w   ,   ^ 


^^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^% 


Presented    by  Dr.  F.  L.Pa^^or\. 

BX  7233  .S8  B43  1910 
Stimson,  Henry  Albert,  1842 

1936. 
Behind  the  world  and  beyond 


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U 


BEHIND  THE  WORLD 
AND  BEYOND 


HENRY  A.    STIMSON 

MINISTEB    OF   THE   MANHATTAN    CONQREGATIONAU    CHURCH 
NEW    YOHK    CITY 


NEW    YORK:    EATON    &    MAINS 
CINCINNATI :   JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


Copyright,  1910,  by 
EATON  &  MAINS 


TO   THE    MEMORY 

OF    THOSE    DEAR    FELLOW 

WORKERS     WHO     HAVE    BEEN     MY 

LOVING  HELPERS  AND  PARISHIONERS    IN  A 

LONG      AND     HAPPY     MINISTRY,     WHO      HAVE     ALREADY 

PASSED    INTO    THE     BLESSED    REST,    AND     WHOSE 

SPIRIT   AND    LIFE    GO   TOWARD  THE    MAKING 

UP      OF      THAT      CHRISTIAN      TESTIMONY 

IN   WHICH   LIES   THE  ONLY  SOLVING 

OF     THE      world's     GREAT 

PROBLEMS 


^^E  il  suo  volontade  e  nostra  paceJ' 

— Dante. 


VI 


CONTENTS 
I 

PAGE 

WHAT  LIES  BEHIND  THIS  PUZZLING  WORLD?      1 

"For  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our 
being;  as  certain  even  of  your  own  poets  have 
said,  For  we  are  also  his  offspring." — Acts  17.  28. 

II 

WHAT  IS  THE  PURPOSE  OF  LIFE  ? 13 

"As  for  man,  his  days  are  as  grass;  as  a  flower  of 
the  field,  so  he  flourisheth.  For  the  wind  passeth 
over  it,  and  it  is  gone;  and  the  place  thereof  shall 
know  it  no  more." — Psalm  103.  15,  16. 

Ill 

CAN  SIN  BE  FORGIVEN  ? 25 

"Two  men  went  up  into  the  temple  to  pray;  the 
one  a  Pharisee,  and  the  other  a  publican.  The 
Pharisee  stood  and  prayed  thus  with  himself,  God, 
I  thank  thee,  that  I  am  not  as  the  rest  of  men, 
extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers,  or  even  as  this 
pubHcan.  I  fast  twice  in  the  week;  I  give  tHhes  of 
all  that  I  get.  But  the  publican,  standing  afar  off, 
would  not  lift  up  so  much  as  his  eyes  unto  heaven, 
but  smote  his  breast,  saying,  God,  be  thou  merciful 
to  me  a  sinner." — Luke  18.  10-13. 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

IV 

PAGE 

WHAT  GOD  HAS  DONE  FOR  THE  WORLD 38 

"God  hath  at  the  end  of  these  days  spoken  unto 
us  in  his  Son." — Hebrews  1.  2. 


ON  WHAT  CONDITION  IS   HEAVEN  TO  BE  AT- 
TAINED ? 48 

"In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions;  if  it 
were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you;  for  I  go  to 
prepare  a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare 
a  place  for  you,  I  come  again,  and  will  receive  you 
unto  myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be 
also."— John  14.  2,  3. 


VI 

THE      ESSENTIALS      OF      THE       CHRISTIAN 
FAITH.— I 69 

"Neither  shall  they  say,  Lo,  here!  or,  There!  for 
lo,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." — Luke 
17.  21. 

VII 

THE       ESSENTIALS       OF       THE       CHRISTIAN 
FAITH.— II 74 

"For  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  which 
also  I  received:  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  accord- 
ing to  the  scriptures;  and  that  he  was  buried;  and 
that  he  hath  been  raised  on  the  third  day  according 
to  the  scriptures." — 1  Corinthians  15.  3,  4. 


CONTENTS  ix 

VIII 

PAGE 

THE       ESSENTIALS       OF       THE       CHRISTIAN 
FAITH.— Ill 88 

-'If  Christ  hath  not  been  raised,  then  is  our 
preaching  vain,  your  faith  also  is  vain." — 1  Corin- 
thians 15.  14. 

IX 

WHY  NOT  SIMPLY  THE  MORALITY  OP  JESUS?    101 

"And  as  he  was  going  forth  into  the  way,  there 
ran  one  to  him,  and  kneeled  to  him,  and  asked  him, 
Good  Teacher,  what  shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit 
eternal  life?  And  Jesus  said  unto  him.  Why  callest 
thou  me  good?  none  is  good  save  one,  even  God." 
—Mark  10.  17,  18. 

X 

THE  SEARCHING  QUESTION Ill 

"He  saith  unto  them.  But  who  say  ye  that  I 
am?" — Matthew  16.  15. 

XI 

THE  MEANING  OF  A  NEGLECTED  CHRIST 121 

"And  we  esteemed  him  not." — Isaiah  53.  3. 

XII 
THE  CALL  OF  THE  WORLD 131 

"Jesus  answered  them,  My  Father  worketh  even 
until  now.  and  I  work." — John  5.  17. 


X  CONTENTS 

XIII 

PAGE 

THE  WINNING  OF  THE  BEST 143 

i'O  Lord  Jehovah,  thou  hast  begun  to  show  thy 
servant  thy  greatness,  and  thy  strong  hand:  .  .  . 
Let  me  go  over,  I  pray  thee,  and  see  the  good  land 
that  is  beyond  the  Jordan." — Deuteronomy  3. 
24,  25. 

XIV 

THE  TEST  OP  THE  JORDAN 157 

"They  said.  If  we  have  found  favor  in  thy  sight, 
let  this  land  be  given  unto  thy  servants  for  a  pos- 
session; bring  us  not  over  the  Jordan." — Numbers 
32.  5. 

XV 

CHRIST'S  CURE  FOR  "  THE  BLUES  " 169 

"And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Go 
and  tell  John  the  things  which  ye  hear  and  see: 
the  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk, 
the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  and  the 
dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  good  tidings 
preached  to  them.  And  blessed  is  he,  whosoever 
shall  find  no  occasion  of  stumbling  in  me." — 
Matthew  11.  4-6. 

XVI 

THE  MANLY  SIDE  OF  TEMPTATION 183 

"There  hath  no  temptation  taken  you  but  such 
as  man  can  bear." — 1  Corinthians  10.  13. 

XVII 
THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  CONVERSION 193 

"I  obtained  mercy,  because  I  did  it  ignorantly 
in  imbelief." — 1  Timothy  1.  13. 


CONTENTS  zi 

XVIII 

PAGE 

GOD'S  USE  OF  THE  USELESS 205 

"But  thou,  Bethlehem  Ephratah,  which  art 
little  to  be  among  the  thousands  of  Judah,  out  of 
thee  shall  one  come  forth  unto  me  that  is  to  be 
ruler  in  Israel;  whose  goings  forth  are  from  of  old, 
from  everlasting." — ^Micah  5.  2. 

XIX 

THE  VOICE  OF  GOD  IN  OUR  DAILY  LIFE ;  215 

-'The  multitude  therefore,  that  stood  by,  and 
heard  it,  said  that  it  had  thundered:  others  said, 
An  angel  hath  spoken  to  him." — John  12.  29. 

XX 

THE  KINDNESS  OF  GOD 229 

"And  the  king  said,  Is  there  not  yet  any  of  the 
house  of  Saul,  that  I  may  show  the  kindness  of 
God  unto  him?"— 2  Samuel  9.  3. 

XXI 

LIFE'S  GREAT  TRUSTS 240 

"For  in  the  resurrection  they  neithCT  marry,  nor 
are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  angels  in  heaven,'* 
—Matthew  22.  30. 

XXII 

THE  SETTING  UP  OF  THE  ARK 250 

"And  David  went  and  brought  up  the  ark  of 
God  from  the  house  of  Obed-edom  into  the  city  of 
David  with  joy." — 2  Samuel  6.  12. 


xii  CONTENTS 

XXIII 

PAGE 

CHRIST'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  CHURCH 261 

"Christ  also  loved  the  church,  and  gave  himself 
up  for  it;  that  he  might  sanctify  it,  having  cleansed 
it  by  the  washing  of  water  with  the  word,  that  he 
might  present  the  church  to  himself  a  glorious 
church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such 
thing;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without 
blemish." — Ephesians  5.  25-27. 

XXIV 

THE  SUPREME  POSSESSION 272 

•'In  Christ."— Ephesians  1.  10. 

XXV 

THE  CHALLENGE  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  281 

"And  I  lifted  up  my  eyes,  and  saw,  and,  behold, 
a  man  with  a  measuring  Une  in  his  hand." — Zech- 

ARIAH  2.  1. 


PREFACE 

The  title  of  this  book,  while  suggested  by 
the  opening  chapter,  is  justified  by  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  book.  It  deals  with  spiritual 
realities,  with  what  Plato  called  the  noumena 
as  distinct  from  the  phenomena  of  life.  The 
latter  are  what  most  absorb  men's  attention, 
but  back  of  them  and  beyond  them  is  the  realm 
of  the  great  truths  which,  while  easily  over- 
looked or  disregarded,  persist  through  all 
change,  and  are  eternal.  They  never  are  alto- 
gether fathomed,  and  nothing  can  be  better 
worth  attention. 

I  have  long  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  minis- 
tering in  a  pulpit  which,  in  a  loving  and  gen- 
erous sense,  is  absolutely  free.  A  church  that 
desires  the  truth  is  not  afraid  of  it  in  any  form. 
A  congregation  that  contains  not  a  single 
member  who  would  consciously  hinder  his 
pastor  in  any  utterance  he  might  make,  be- 
cause he  loves  him  and  trusts  him,  is  one  to 
encourage  outreaching  thought.  These  ser- 
mons are,  therefore,  not  apologetic.  The 
preacher  is  not  conscious  of  any  pressure  to 
conceal  or  repress  any  expression  that  might 

xiii 


xiv  PREFACE 

be  necessary  to  convey  his  thought;  nor  is  he 
aware  of  having  had  convictions  in  the  past, 
or  of  having  any  now,  which  he  is  not  free  to 
utter.  He  is  limited  only  by  the  range  of  his 
own  knowledge ;  but  he  has  taught  the  truth  he 
knows  and,  as  far  as  possible,  has  experienced. 
He  wishes  his  experience  were  fuller  and 
deeper,  and  regrets  that  his  knowledge  is  not 
greater ;  but  such  as  it  is,  it  has  declared  itself, 
and  it  has  ever  been  spoken  with  the  interested 
expectation  that  he  would  so  speak;  while  on 
his  own  part  his  belief  has  been  constant  that 
he  has  had  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
which  is  promised  to  those  who  seek  him. 

Imperfectly  as  his  work  is  done,  he  believes 
it  to  be  the  truth,  which  in  the  times  in  which 
we  are  living  God  wants  declared — the  old 
truth,  of  course,  but  expressed  in  the  light  of 
modern  thought  and  adapted  to  present  needs. 
Not  only  is  it  "certain  that  the  world  is  not 
made  to  the  measure  of  any  science  or  philoso- 
phy, but  on  the  scale  which  perpetually  sum- 
mons philosophy  and  science  to  reconstruct 
themselves  anew";  but  it  is  also  certain  that 
the  Christian  life  is  not  made  to  that  measure. 
The  law  of  its  nature  is  fixed,  and  the  pattern 
is  established  in  Jesus  Christ;  but  it  has  the 
duty  of  continually  adjusting  itself  to  that 
pattern,  and  of  making  sure  that  it  is  obedient 


PREFACE  XV 

to  the  law  given  once  for  all.  It  is  called  con- 
tinually to  interpret  Christ  in  the  terms  of 
daily  life,  and  to  apply  his  teachings  to  the 
doubts  and  fears,  the  questions  and  the  tasks 
which  each  new  day  presents. 

This  is  the  function  of  the  pulpit;  and,  be- 
cause this  function  cannot  be  exercised  by  any 
other  agency,  I  believe  that  whether  men  "bear 
or  forbear"  there  is  a  perpetual  need  of  the 
preacher  and  his  work.  Because  as  a  preacher 
I  long  for  witness  to  this,  and  the  sign  of  the 
Lord's  approval  of  it  which  is  found  in  hearts 
that  respond  to  it  and  lives  that  are  helped  by 
it,  I  have  given  it  to  the  press.  As  John  Bun- 
yan  said  of  his  "Grace  Abounding,"  "I  could 
have  stepped  into  a  style  much  higher  than 
this  in  which  I  have  discoursed,  but  I  dared 
not."  "God  did  not  play,"  he  further  said,  "in 
dealing  with  him";  therefore  he  might  not 
play  in  telling  his  story ;  but  "be  plain  and  sim- 
ple, and  lay  down  the  thing  as  it  was." 

I  would  add  to  the  prayer  with  which  my 
message  was  delivered  the  earnest  prayer  that 
in  this  form  it  may  be  accepted  of  the  Lord, 
and  made  useful  to  its  readers. 

Henry  A.  Stimson. 

August  1,  1910. 


"Slight  as  thou  art,  thou  art  enough  to  hide. 
Like  all  created  things,  secrets  from  me. 
And  stand  a  barrier  to  eternity. 
And  I,  how  can  I  praise  thee  well  and  wide 
From  where  I  dwell  upon  the  hither  side. 
Thou  little  veil  for  so  great  mystery? 
When  shall  I  penetrate  all  things  and  thee 
And  then  look  back?    For  this  I  must  abide, 
Till  thou  Shalt  grow  and  fold  and  be  unfurled 
Literally  between  me  and  the  world. 
Then  I  shall  drink  within  beneath  a  spring 
And  from  a  poet's  side  shall  read  his  book. 
Oh!  daisy  mine,  what  will  it  be  to  look 
From  God's  side  even  of  such  a  simple  thing?" 

— Alice  Meynell. 


XVI 


WHAT  LIES  BEHIND  THIS  PUZZLING 
WORLD? 

"For  In  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being; 
as  certain  even  of  your  own  poets  have  said.  For  we 
are  also  his  offspring." — Acts  17.  28. 

Either  there  is  something  behind  this  puz- 
zling world,  or  there  is  not.  There  is  no  third 
in  the  alternative.  There  is  a  God,  or  there  is 
not.  Every  man's  life  shows  on  which  side 
of  that  alternative  he  is;  and  he  must  be  on 
one  side  or  the  other. 

Let  us  admit  at  once  that  when  we  speak  of 
proof,  in  the  accepted  scientific  and  demonstra- 
ble sense,  we  cannot  prove  the  existence  of 
God.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  the  nonexist- 
ence of  God  cannot  be  proved.  We  have  come 
to  know  that  the  field  of  science  and  of  logical 
demonstration  is  limited.  We  have  passed  the 
age  when  the  contrary  was  held.  The  last  half 
of  the  last  century  witnessed  the  great  scien- 
tific awakening  which  may  be  regarded  as  hav- 
ing constituted  the  birth  of  modern  science. 
We  were  all  carried  away  by  it.  A  new  world 
of   thought   had    opened,    and    undreamed-of 

1 


2        BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

powers  were  discovered  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
scientific  men.  As  is  the  case  with  every  dis- 
covery of  a  new  power,  the  claim  made  for 
them  was  all-embracing.  Religion  and  science, 
no  less  than  physics  and  chemistry,  the  unseen 
world  no  less  than  the  seen,  were  all  haled  be- 
fore their  tribunal,  and  accepted  beliefs  were 
as  violently  cross-examined  as  is  the  accused 
in  the  French  criminal  courts,  and  were  in 
most  cases  ruthlessly  swept  away.  Ruskin 
protested  that  men  no  longer  believed  in  God 
because  they  did  not  "find  God  in  a  bottle." 
No  truth  was  accepted  except  on  the  authority 
of  the  test-tube  and  the  laboratory. 

But  the  day  for  that  has  passed.  It  wrought 
havoc  with  the  peace  of  many  good  men.  Leslie 
Stephen,  in  his  biography,  says  that  Tennyson 
"all  his  life  was  troubled  lest  men  of  science 
should  some  day  do  away  with  God,  and,  there- 
fore, with  the  basis  of  morality'' ;  as  if  science 
and  the  duty  of  living  a  decent  life  rested 
on  scientific  proof.  Long  ago  Frederick  W. 
Robertson  wrote,  "In  the  darkest  hour  through 
which  a  human  soul  can  pass,  whatever  else 
is  doubtful,  this  at  least  is  certain — if  there  is 
no  God,  no  future  state,  yet  even  then  it  is 
better  to  be  generous  than  selfish,  better  to  be 
true  than  false,  better  to  be  brave  than  to  be  a 
coward.'' 


WHAT  LIES  BEHIND  ?  3 

The  fact  is,  we  have  come  to  know  that  there 
are  many  other  methods  of  knowledge  than 
that  of  physical  demonstration  or  logical  proc- 
ess. The  mind  of  man  is  open  to  the  whole 
circle  of  truth,  certain  broad  ways  leading 
to  him  at  its  center.  We  are  glad  to  know 
them.  The  men  of  science  have  cast  them 
up  as  highways,  and  made  paths,  easy  and 
straight. 

But  on  either  side,  and  sweeping  the  en- 
tire field,  is  a  vast  territory,  through  which 
many  other  ways  wind,  many  yet  perhaps  to 
be  cleared,  but  all  open  to  the  ingress  of  a 
world  of  truth  in  many  instances  vital  to  man's 
needs  and  already  essential  in  his  daily  life, 
but  which  are  not  labeled,  and  are  perhaps 
little  known  to  many  wise  men  of  science.  Dr. 
James  Martineau  through  the  whole  period  of 
scientific  contention  did  not  fail  to  claim  that 
it  is  a  part  of  a  sound  philosophy  to  hold  that 
truth  can  be  comprehended  by  the  heart  no 
less  than  by  the  head.  We  have  many  a  clear 
comprehension,  which  we  call  instinct,  or  feel- 
ing, or  what  you  will,  in  the  aggregate  con- 
vincing, satisfactory,  conclusive,  and  the  pos- 
session of  all  men.  Paul  appeals  to  this  in  his 
address  to  the  Athenians.  He  says,  You  all 
are  worshipers.  You  all  are  seeking  to  know 
the  gods,  all  of  them.    You  even  set  up  an  altar 


4        BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

to  the  Unknown,  and  you  do  it  because  we  are 
all  a  common  humanity,  bound  to  seek  God, 
"if  haply  we  may  feel  after  him  and  find  him, 
though  he  is  not  far  from  each  one  of  us :  for 
in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being." 
Your  own  poet,  as  you  know,  has  put  it,  "For 
we  are  also  his  offspring."  He  held  the  atten- 
tion of  his  Athenian  audience,  and  the  same 
truth  holds  the  attention  of  men  to-day,  for 
there  is  that  in  every  heart  which  responds 
to  it. 

We  are  aware,  however,  that  a  multitude 
may  think  a  thing,  or  believe  a  thing,  or  unit- 
edly need  a  thing,  and  yet  that  thing  not  exist. 
Thought  may  have  slight  connection  with 
reality.  Human  history  is  a  long  tale  of  egre- 
gious superstition  and  unfounded  traditions. 
But  in  this  instance  we  do  well  to  look  a  little 
deeper,  and  to  consider  what  man  is  in  himself, 
who  thinks  these  thoughts  and  is  everywhere 
conscious  of  these  needs. 

We  know  pretty  accurately  how  man  came 
to  be.  There  was  a  day,  or,  as  certain  books 
put  it,  "once  upon  a  time"  a  living  cell  existed. 
Perhaps  there  were  many  of  them,  but  one  is 
enough  for  our  purpose.  That  cell  was  more 
wonderful  than  anything  else  that  has  existed 
since,  as  the  acorn  is  more  wonderful  than 
the  oak.    For  the  acorn  not  only  contains  the 


WHAT  LIES  BEHIND?  5 

oak  potentially,  but  it  contains  all  oaks  and  all 
trees,  and,  like  the  "flower  in  the  crannied 
wall,"  to  one  who  can  understand,  would  give 
the  story  of  all  vegetable  life.  That  cell  had 
the  power  of  reproduction,  multiplying  itself 
in  others  like  itself. 

Then  there  came  a  day  when  the  outer  world 
made  an  impression  of  a  definite  kind  upon  the 
cell.  For  example,  rays  of  light  began  to  beat 
upon  it.  The  cell  commenced  to  respond,  and 
sensation  appeared.  Out  of  that  sensation, 
which  was  the  response  of  the  cell  to  the  outer 
world,  arose,  in  turn,  the  developed  eye,  as  its 
answer  to  the  light,  the  eye  of  the  ant  in  its 
microscopic  power,  and  the  eye  of  the  eagle, 
the  splendid  telescope;  the  ear,  its  response  to 
sound,  so  fine  that  it  can  hear  the  faintest 
sound,  and  so  intricate  that  it  can  comprehend 
the  very  harmonies  of  heaven;  the  organs  of 
smell,  of  taste  or  touch,  wonderful  in  their 
variety  and  boundless  in  their  scope. 

Soon  there  was  occasion  for  the  living  or- 
ganism, possessing  some  of  these  faculties,  to 
turn  in  one  direction  or  another,  to  accept  or 
reject — in  short,  to  make  what  appeared  to  be 
the  beginning  of  what  we  know  as  choice.  The 
tendril  of  the  bean  began  to  wind  about  the 
supporting  stake  in  one  direction,  and  not  in 
another,  and  maintained  that  direction.    The 


6       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

rootlet  stretched  out  through  the  dry  ground 
toward  the  distant  moisture ;  the  tender  sprout 
spent  its  young  strength  in  a  desperate  strug- 
gle to  escape  from  darkness  into  the  region 
of  the  neighboring  light.  This  is  not  the  whole 
story;  much  lies  between,  much  of  which  we 
know  nothing.  But  these  events  are  like  the 
mountain  peaks  from  which  we  survey  a  wide 
territory,  aware  that  much  life  and  many  an 
eventful  history  lies  hidden  in  the  intervening 
valleys. 

One  day  there  awoke  the  consciousness  that 
the  organism  was  itself  making  these  decisions. 
Then  it  had  for  the  first  time  the  reality  of 
choice,  the  possession  of  self-knowledge  and  of 
will ;  then  at  once  appeared  the  foundations  of 
character,  and  the  path  opened  for  that  devel- 
opment which  we  now  recognize  as  the  spirit- 
ual beauty  of  the  creature  who  can  do  right 
as  opposed  to  wrong,  and  can  win  to  himself 
the  approbation  of  virtue.  The  most  startling 
moment  in  history  was  when  that  strange  or- 
ganism possessing  this  new  consciousness,  and 
beginning  to  ascend  by  this  wonderful  path 
of  character,  coming  to  himself,  suddenly 
turned  and,  addressing  the  world  about  him, 
said :  "I  am  not  of  you.  By  your  aid  I  came 
to  be  what  I  am.  I  am  your  kin,  but  you  are 
not  my  creator.     Your  companionship  is  not 


WHAT  LIES  BEHIND  ?  7 

enough  for  me.  I  must  look  up  and  not  down, 
forward  and  not  backward.  I  must  reach  out 
for  God." 

We  recognize  it  as  the  voice  not  only  of  a 
man,  but  as  the  voice  of  humanity.  It  was 
the  first  confession,  and  it  remains  the  com- 
plete prospectus.  It  declared  the  native  en- 
dowment, and  proclaimed  the  ultimate  attain- 
ment, the  final  goal  toward  which  all  life  is 
directed. 

At  once  we  ask.  Where  did  that  first  man  get 
that  idea?  Does  it  not  correspond  to  the  ac- 
tual fact?  Is  not  here  indeed  the  explanation 
of  a  long  history?  Everywhere  the  response 
of  the  living  organism  has  been  to  the  truth 
of  existence.  Step  by  step  those  responses 
have  come,  and  in  making  them  life  has  ad- 
vanced from  the  lower  to  the  higher.  This 
result  is  not  the  outcome  of  a  process  which 
has  been  ruled  by  chance.  Here  is  no  record 
of  the  "fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms";  here 
is  no  "witches'  dance  of  molecules"  in  empty 
space.  Here  are  plan,  and  purpose,  and  result. 
The  cry  of  man  standing  on  the  summit  is  the 
declaration  of  the  truth  that  has  dominated 
all  from  the  beginning.  God  is  behind  his 
universe.  This  is  the  moment  for  which  God 
has  waited.  Here  is  the  earth  with  its  inhabit- 
ants, the  sufficient  result. 


8        BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

What,  then,  is  behind  this  world?  A  rational 
universe  requires  a  rational  God.  Mind  is  the 
highest  product  of  the  evolutionary  process, 
and  mind  is  rational ;  that  is,  it  has  this  as  its 
natural,  its  normal  trait;  it  acts  in  a  system- 
atic way.  It  discovers  and  establishes  laws 
of  thought.  It  never  is  content  with  discon- 
nected fact.  It  is  only  satisfied  when  its  com- 
prehension of  fact  moves  on  to  the  discovery 
of  the  relations  of  facts.  It  calls  its  acquisi- 
tions knowledge  only  when  this  relationship 
is  established.  However  life  began — the  life 
which  has  resulted  in  man  endowed  with  these 
powers  of  mind  and  heart — it  requires  a  God. 
There  must  be  this  counterpart  to  our  moral 
and  spiritual  natures,  as  there  is  everywhere 
about  us  a  counterpart  to  physical  nature. 
Man  is  an  outreaching  being.  His  life  is  not 
complete  without  this  search  for,  and  this 
effort  to  attain,  what  is  above  and  beyond  him. 
He  yearns  to  know  that  being  who  is 

"A  Presence  that  disturbs  me  "vVith  the  Joy 
Of  elevated  thoughts;  a  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused. 
Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns." 

Hence  he  has  always  and  everywhere  made  for 
himself  a  religion.  The  old  Greek  historian, 
Plutarch,  said :  "You  may  find  people  without 
morals,  without  laws,  without  manners,  but 


WHAT  LIES  BEHIND  ?  9 

you  can  find  none  without  altars,  without  sac- 
rifices, without  worship/' 

The  phenomenon  of  an  instinct,  an  impulse, 
a  general  conviction,  call  it  what  you  will,  of 
the  mind  of  man  to  reach  out  after  God  is  too 
vast  for  any  other  explanation  than  that  it  is 
true  to  fact. 

"Looking  from  the  finite  to  infinity, 
From  man's  dust  to  God's  divinity," 

is  a  true  impulse.  There  is  a  God  adequate  to 
meet  man's  needs,  and  the  mind  of  man  in  its 
superior  moments  cannot  escape  the  sense  of 
his  presence.  Clerk  Maxwell  said,  "I  have 
looked  up  many  strange  theories  and  have 
found  that  none  of  them  will  work  without  the 
intervention  of  God."  In  the  height  of  the 
scientific  storm  of  the  last  century  Professor 
Tyndall  delivered  a  famous  address  before  the 
British  Association  of  Science  at  Belfast,  in 
which  he  swept  away  the  foundations  for  faith 
in  everything  beyond  the  material  world. 
Years  after  a  friend  asked  him,  "When  at  the 
bound  of  things  what  did  you  find?"  He  re- 
plied, "I  stood  before  the  Eternal."  "Why, 
then,  did  you  not  say  so  in  your  Belfast  ad- 
dress?" was  the  inevitable  question.  And  there 
came  the  slow  reply,  "It  w^as  a  great  mistake !" 
Faith  in  God,  then,  is  something  more  than 
a  religious  experience,  which  may  be  the  pos- 


10       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

session  of  a  few,  and  is  always  open  to  the  in- 
credulous distrust  of  the  many.  It  is  a  re- 
sponse, normal  and  compelling,  to  the  primary 
facts  of  life.  It  rests  on  "confidence  in  the 
world  as  an  honest  world,  in  which  form  it 
corresponds  to  fact  and  to  truth;  confidence 
in  the  searchings  of  science  and  the  inspira- 
tions of  hope;  confidence  in  the  goodness  of 
the  good  and  the  badness  of  the  bad ;  confidence 
that  the  rational  order  is  grounded  in  the 
Eternal  Eeason,  and  the  moral  order  in  the 
Eternal  Kighteousness ;  confidence  in  the  evi- 
dence of  our  own  souls  in  their  better  hours; 
confidence,  in  a  word,  that  the  worthiest  ex- 
planation of  existence  is  the  true  one.''  This 
is  the  final  conclusion  of  the  scientific  theo- 
logian, and  is  none  the  less  the  conclusion  of 
the  man  in  the  street  who  opens  his  eyes  to 
the  facts  of  existence,  and  turns  his  thoughts 
in  upon  the  needs  of  his  own  soul  and  the 
voices  of  his  own  heart. 

Bear  in  mind,  then,  what  is  the  alternative — 
either  God  and  his  world,  or  the  world  unac- 
counted for.  There  is  no  third  to  this  alterna- 
tive. Whatever  your  mood  or  your  purpose  of 
indecision,  every  one,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is 
ordering  his  life  one  way  or  the  other.  You 
recognize  God  as  in  all  and  over  all,  or  you 
are  acting  as  if  there  were  no  God.    Here  is 


WHAT  LIES  BEHIND  ?  11 

the  justification  of  the  Christian  faith.  Re- 
ligion is  a  way,  and  the  man  who  believes  in 
God  walks  in  it.  Eeligion  is  a  life,  and  the 
man  who  believes  in  God  strives  with  all  his 
might  to  live  that  life.  God  is  revealed  in 
Christ.  He  is  a  living  Presence,  and  the  Chris- 
tian is  the  man  who  believes  it  and  knows  it 
and  rejoices  in  it,  and  every  day  is  trying  to 
live  in  the  full  consciousness  of  that  divine 
Presence.  The  Christian  faith  is  the  faith  of 
a  man  who  believes  that  existence  is  given  to 
us  as  a  blessing,  and  not  as  a  curse;  and  it 
moves  straightforward  to  the  recognition  of 
Him  who  gave  it.  It  rests  itself  upon  God, 
because  in  him  it  finds  help  to  do  right.  Its 
affirmation  is  that  it  gives  the  assurance  of 
pardon  and  the  sense  of  peace. 

We  come  to  this  conclusion:  If  God  is  be- 
hind this  world,  as  he  indubitably  is,  then  he 
is  in  the  world,  and  beyond  it.  We  come  from 
him,  we  live  with  him,  and  we  shall  appear 
before  him  at  last.  Contrasting  the  results  of 
the  two  positions  in  the  alternatives  that  are 
before  us,  the  faith  of  the  atheist  has  proved 
itself  everywhere  sterile,  drear,  with  no  con- 
viction and  no  comfort,  and,  at  last,  with  no 
hope  and  no  peace.  The  faith  of  the  Christian 
is  the  faith  of  the  multitude  who  in  believing 
have  found  life,  life  at  its  very  best,  wide  as 


12       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

the  universe,  luminous,  clear,  glorious,  having 
a  firm  hold  of  that  which  now  is,  and  the 
assurance  of  that  which  is  to  come.  The 
psalmist  wrote,  "The  fool  hath  said  in  his 
heart.  There  is  no  God."  Was  his  word  too 
severe? 


II 

WHAT  IS  THE  PURPOSE  OF  LIFE? 

"As  for  man,  his  days  are  as  grass;  as  a  flower  of  the 
field,  so  he  flourisheth.  For  the  wind  passeth  over  it, 
and  it  is  gone;  and  the  place  thereof  shall  know  it  no 
more"— Psalm  103.  15,  16. 

We  feel  no  serious  sadness  over  the  fading 
of  the  grass  and  the  leaves  in  the  autumn,  for 
we  know  they  will  soon  return,  and  the  earth 
will  appear  with  renewed  beauty  in  the  open- 
ing spring.  It  is  very  different  in  regard  to 
man.  He  dies,  and  his  place  knows  him  no 
more.  The  question  before  us  is  not  primarily, 
What  is  the  purpose  of  life?  but.  Has  life  any 
purpose?  The  question  is  vital,  for  the  an- 
swer inevitably  shapes  a  man's  life.  As  we 
think  in  our  heart,  so  we  are.  If  the  golf- 
player  is  startled  to  discover  that  the  slightest 
mental  distraction  spoils  his  stroke,  should 
it  be  hard  to  convince  any  man  who  is  in 
earnest  that  it  is  necessary  to  think  straight 
and  reach  conclusions  if  he  will  have  his  life 
run  straight  and  true? 

Has  life,  then,  any  purpose ;  and,  if  so,  what 
is  it?    We  make  a  purpose,  surely  enough,  each 

13 


14      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

one  for  himself.  Just  now  the  great  Dutch 
painter  Israels,  who  is  over  eighty  years  of  age, 
is  producing  beautiful  pictures,  the  counter- 
part of  those  of  his  great  days.  For  him,  cer- 
tainly, life  has  a  purpose,  and  he  holds  to  it. 
The  ancient  alchemist,  whose  portrait  we  have 
come  across  so  often  in  the  stories  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  sitting  over  his  flasks  and  his  cruci- 
bles, his  hair  white  and  his  beard  long,  intent 
on  turning  base  metal  into  gold,  had  a  domi- 
nant purpose.  The  aged  millionaire  whose 
figure  was  so  well  known  in  Wall  Street,  and 
whose  name  was  familiar  in  the  banking  world 
of  both  continents,  who  died  the  other  day, 
leaving  a  vast  fortune  to  his  widow  to  dis- 
tribute, because  he  could  never  bring  himself 
to  part  with  a  single  cent,  had  set  to  a  suffi- 
cient certainty  his  purpose  in  life.  It  was  to 
accumulate  and  to  keep  money  to  the  end.  The 
old  tramp,  who  shuffles  along  the  sidewalk, 
past  my  house,  with  eager  face  and  pendent 
arms,  has  his  purpose.  It  is  to  get  a  "square 
meal.''  The  lawyers  and  the  business  men 
hurrying  downtown  in  the  morning  see  each 
his  purpose;  and  the  old  club-man  sauntering 
down  the  avenue,  well  gloved  and  groomed, 
with  a  flower  in  his  buttonhole,  to  sit  in  the 
club  window,  or  play  his  diurnal  game  of 
whist,  knows  his  purpose  and  holds  to  it. 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  LIFE  15 

We  are  all  at  it.  Our  purposes  are  various 
and  innumerable.  But  they  largely  control 
us  all;  and  the  hustle  of  life  is  made  by  the 
rush  with  which  we  all  respond  to  the  pressure 
of  the  great  city,  where  we  are  each  striving 
to  maintain  our  position.  The  white  mice  said 
to  Alice  in  Wonderland,  "Here  it  takes  all  the 
running  you  can  do  to  keep  in  the  same  place.'' 
We  are  all  running,  and  most  of  us  are  content 
if  we  can  hold  our  place.  Our  purposes  do 
not  reach  the  change  beyond.  Perhaps  some 
of  us  feel  a  little  superior,  as  we  say,  "How 
foolish!"  when  we  look  at  others  and  see  in 
what  direction  they  are  spending  their 
strength.  We  are  wiser,  and  we  are  content. 
A  character  in  a  recent  French  story,  when 
men  worried  themselves  about  things  beyond 
him,  used  to  say,  "I  am  a  man  who  only  knows 
how  to  plant  cabbages."  That  was  his  pur- 
pose in  life.  He  had  mastered  its  details  and 
it  was  enough  for  him.  Why  should  he  bother 
about  anything  beyond? 

Larger  minds,  however,  are  not  so  easily 
content.  For  life  is  always  larger  than  any 
theory  of  life.  And  there  is  that  in  the  heart 
of  man  which  some  time  or  other  is  sure  to  cry 
out  to  something  more,  and  to  yearn  for  some- 
thing beyond.  Tennyson  attached  great  im- 
portance to  his  poem,  "The  Ancient  Sage," 


16      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

which  deals  with  the  problems  of  life.  Its  note 

is  the  confession : 

"My  son,  the  world  is  dark  with  griefs  and  graves, 
So  dark  that  men  cry  out  against  the  heavens." 

John  Stuart  Mill,  with  all  his  learning  and 
success  in  life,  succumbed  at  last  to  what  he 
called  "the  disastrous  feeling  of  ^not  worth 
while.' ''  He  found  that  he  had  no  clue  to  the 
meaning  of  life.  And  he  thought  the  game 
not  worth  the  candle.  Cardinal  Newman 
poured  out  his  heart  in  the  "Apologia'' :  "To 
consider  the  world  in  its  length  and  breadth, 
its  various  history,  the  many  races  of  men, 
their  stories,  their  fortunes,  their  mutual 
alienations,  their  conflicts,  their  aimless 
courses,  their  random  achievements  and  ac- 
quirements, .  .  .  the  greatness  and  little- 
ness of  man,  his  far-reaching  aims,  his  short 
duration,  the  curtain  hung  over  his  futurity, 
the  disappointments  of  life,  the  defeat  of  good, 
the  success  of  evil,  physical  pain,  mental  an- 
guish, the  prevalence  and  intensity  of  sin,  the 
prevailing  idolatries,  the  dreary,  hopeless  ir- 
religion;  that  condition  of  the  whole  race  so 
fearfully  yet  so  exactly  described  by  the  apos- 
tle, as  ^having  no  hope  and  without  God  in  the 
world' " — all  this  is  a  vision  to  dizzy  and  ap- 
pall, and  inflicts  upon  the  mind  the  sense  of 
a  profound  misery  which  is  absolutely  beyond 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  LIFE  17 

human  solution.  Many  men  say,  "Great  or 
small,  grand  or  ignoble,  what  does  anything 
matter,  if  we  are  but  the  creatures  of  a  day, 
with  no  destiny?'^  Maeterlinck  in  his  assay 
on  the  "Intelligence  of  the  Flowers"  describes 
the  life  of  the  flower  as  governed  by  the  single 
purpose  "to  escape  above  the  fatality  below, 
to  evade,  transgress  the  heavy  somber  law,  to 
set  itself  free,  to  shatter  the  narrow  sphere, 
to  invent  or  invoke  wings,  to  escape  as  far  as 
it  can,  to  conquer  the  space  in  which  destiny 
incloses  it,  to  approach  another  kingdom/' 
Shall  man  do  less;  shall  his  life  have  a  less 
noble,  a  less  compelling  purpose,  especially 
when  he  can  know  what  that  purpose  and  goal 
are,  and  the  flower  cannot? 

The  kind  of  purpose  one  will  accept  for  life 
will  depend  upon  what  kind  of  a  man  one  is. 
A  theory  of  life  is  endowed  with  a  soul  only 
by  the  soul  of  the  man  who  holds  it.  Only  as 
his  soul  comes  into  play  does  life  become  seri- 
ous to  him.  Otherwise  it  matters  little  what 
his  purpose  is,  or  how  often  he  changes  it,  so 
long  as  he  can  content  himself  from  day  to 
day.  When  he  awakes  to  discover  that  immor- 
tality is  his  goal  and  eternity  awaits  him  it 
becomes  of  moment  for  him  to  know  how  he 
shall  live. 

The  psalmist  says:    "When  I  consider  thy 


18       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon  and 
the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained;  what  is 
man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?^'  The 
same  heavens,  the  same  moon  and  stars  are 
over  us.  In  the  silence  of  the  cloudless  night 
we  cannot  walk  beneath  them  without  asking 
the  same  question.  They  have  a  purpose.  They 
move  on  their'  eternal  way,  fulfilling  his  will. 
They  are  magnificent,  not  simply  in  their  heav- 
enly beauty,  but  in  the  stately  majesty  of  their 
eternal  and  undeviating  steadfastness  to  that 
for  which  they  were  created.  We  feel  our- 
selves caught  up  in  the  embrace  of  the  mighty 
Universe  of  which  we  are  a  part. 

The  ageless  evolutionary  process  leads  some- 
where. It  has  some  interpretation.  A  man 
discovers  the  remains  of  a  white  marble  stair- 
case still  in  place  in  the  tangled  thicket  in 
some  Greek  valley,  or  on  some  mountainside. 
It  had  some  purpose.  It  led  to  something. 
A  temple  once  was  at  its  top.  Men  ascended 
and  descended,  that  they  might  worship  the 
god  for  whom  it  was  erected.  The  innumer- 
able steps  of  the  wonderful  staircase  of  Nature 
most  surely  were  not  shaped  by  a  smaller  pur- 
pose, surely  cannot  lead  to  a  less  worthy  adora- 
tion. 

President  Woodrow  Wilson  told  the  other 
day   the  story   of  a   poor   woman    who   had 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  LIFE  19 

stumbled  on  one  of  Darwin's  books.  She  said 
it  "took  all  the  kick  out  of  her."  It  gave  her 
"something  to  chew  on."  Life  had  been  hard 
and  humdrum.  Only  with  much-tried  patience 
had  she  borne  it.  She  could  understand  little 
of  its  meaning  and  had  thought  little  of  what 
lies  behind  or  beyond.  This  book  gave  her  chil- 
dren no  bread,  but,  somehow,  as  she  said,  it 
showed  her  "something  doing.''  It  told  of  a 
great  plan  in  which  she  had  some  little  place. 
It  changed  the  vision  of  her  life. 

Surely  that  was  worth  something.  That 
vision  had  value.  It  lifted  for  her  the  horizon ; 
and  that  is  no  small  thing  for  any  man.  It 
gave  her  a  place  in  the  universe.  It  oriented 
her  life  with  the  Eternal. 

You  all  are  busy  men  and  women.  You  have 
purpose  to  get  knowledge,  or  money,  or  suc- 
cess, or  only,  if  sick,  to  get  well.  It  is  for  the 
hour  sufficient.  It  is  in  large  measure  all- 
absorbing.  All  this  is  excellent,  but  you  and 
I  know  that  it  is  all  subordinate.  We  must 
ask,  "What  is  the  real  purpose  of  it  all?" 
"What  really  is  man?"  Surely  there  is  some- 
thing more  than  these! 

Let  us  go  to  headquarters  for  our  answer. 
Let  us  interrogate  the  one  Perfect  Man.  What- 
ever may  be  your  opinion  of  Jesus  Christ,  he 
certainly,  more  than  any  other  who  has  lived 


20       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

upon  earth,  grasped  the  real  purpose  of  life. 
He  knew  what  was  in  man.  He  touched  the 
hearts  of  men.  He  understood  the  meaning 
of  life.  He  did  not  confuse  values;  he  saw 
clear  and  thought  straight,  if  anyone  ever  did. 
Now,  the  notable  thing  about  Jesus  is  the 
way  in  which  he  changed  and  subverted  values. 
Take  the  most  important  of  all.  Go  to  the 
very  center  of  things.  See  how  he  altered 
men^s  estimate  of  life  itself.  Up  to  his  day 
life  was  everywhere  the  supreme  good.  Men 
fought  for  it  and  sacrificed  anything  to  protect 
and  insure  it,  because  they  knew  nothing  be- 
yond. Death  extinguished  all.  A  dead  man  was 
the  least  to  be  regarded,  the  most  despicable 
of  objects.  Jesus  said,  "Whosoever  would  save 
his  life  shall  lose  it :  and  whosoever  shall  lose 
his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it."  At  once, 
first  a  few  and  then  a  throng  of  followers  of 
Jesus  were  ready  to  fling  their  lives  away.  The 
noble  army  of  martyrs  began  their  slow  pro- 
cession across  the  centuries.  They  sang  their 
songs  triumphant  in  the  midst  of  the  amphi- 
theater, and  with  radiant  face  confronted  the 
murderous  shouts  of  their  persecutors.  From 
that  day  "the  multitude,  which  no  man  can 
number,''  has  been  passing  out  of  this  life, 
sustained  by  the  faith  of  Jesus  and  the  strength 
of  the  conviction  that  they  were  not  losing  life, 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  LIFE  21 

but  winning  it,  as  the  things  that  are  seen  slip 
from  them  and  the  things  that  are  not  seen 
become  to  them  the  blessed  reality. 

Then,  as  to  success  and  wealth,  we  hear 
Jesus  telling  the  story  of  the  rich  man,  who 
had  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years  and 
said  to  his  soul  that  he  would  tear  down  his 
barns  and  build  greater,  to  whom  comes  the 
solemn  warning,  "Thou  fool !"  And  ever  since 
men  have  faced  that  word  and  have  found 
themselves  compelled,  even  with  their  hands 
upon  the  world's  greatest  wealth  and  most 
notable  successes,  to  ask  whether  the  same 
condemnation  should  fall  upon  them.  Again, 
in  regard  to  home,  and  friends,  and  pleasure, 
we  hear  him  saying,  "If  any  man  will  come 
after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,"  and  giving 
the  promise  of  richest  blessing  to  those  who 
will  forsake  father  and  mother,  and  wife  and 
children,  and  homes  and  land,  for  his  sake  and 
the  gospel.  And  we  are  thrilled  again  with 
the  missionary  tales  of  the  Christian  centuries. 
First  the  apostles  themselves,  "debtors"  to 
Greeks  and  Barbarians,  Parthians,  Scythians, 
bond  and  free,  then  Augustine  and  Patrick, 
and  Columba  and  Columbanus,  and  Xavicr, 
and  Schwartz,  and  Carey,  and  Livingstone, 
and  Coleridge  Patteson,  and  Falconer,  and 
Pitkin,  and  the  multitude  of  the  foreign  mis- 


22      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

sionaries  in  every  land  to-day.  Then,  we  think 
of  health  and  exemption  from  pain  as  a  chief 
good,  for  which  men  have  everywhere  striven, 
and  we  hear  the  disciple  of  Jesus  saying:  "I 
besought  the  Lord  thrice  that  my  thorn  in  the 
flesh  might  depart  from  me.  And  he  hath 
said  unto  me,  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee: 
for  my  power  is  made  perfect  in  weakness. 
Most  gladly  therefore  will  I  rather  glory  in  my 
weaknesses,  that,  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest 
upon  me.  Wherefore  I  take  pleasure  in  weak- 
nesses, in  injuries,  in  necessities,  in  persecu- 
tions, in  distresses,  for  Christ's  sake :  for  when 
I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong.''  In  many  a  sick- 
room is  to  be  seen  to-day  the  comfort  of  the 
Lord,  and  many  a  suffering  form  is  sustained 
by  the  Everlasting  Arms.  And  many  a  dear 
child  of  God  is  gaining  a  new  sense  of  the 
divine  compassion  and  acquiring  a  new  power 
of  faith  and  of  sympathy  and  of  love  for  God's 
men.  So  Jesus  set  up  another  goal,  and  es- 
tablished another  purpose  in  life,  which  he 
made  supreme  for  all  men.  It  had  to  do  with 
God.  It  fixed  the  final  answer  to  the  supreme 
question.  Life  is  given  to  us  that  we  may 
know  God.  "Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  his  righteousness;  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  you."  Get  at  God's  pur- 
poses.   Grasp  his  character.    Accept  his  com- 


THE  PURPOSE  OF  LIFE  23 

mandments.  Come  to  him  and  know  him. 
That  is  the  purpose  of  life. 

It  is  a  man's  work.  It  is  worth  the  doing. 
Many  men  are  saying  to-day,  "Give  us  a  man's 
work."  They  find  the  organization  of  life  too 
intricate;  its  details,  as  they  present  them- 
selves, too  petty.  They  long  for  what  requires 
a  larger  grasp,  a  more  heroic  effort,  a  more 
prolonged  and  steadier  purpose,  than  they 
find  in  the  vast  majority  of  appeals  that  come 
to  them  for  cooperation.  Here  is  the  summons 
that  will  satisfy  every  need.  It  is,  Live  your 
life!  Recognize  its  meaning.  Understand 
that  it  is  to  know  God ;  to  so  find  him,  and  be- 
lieve in  him,  and  live  for  him,  that  all  your 
life  shall  be  drawn  into  that  purpose  and  con- 
trolled by  it  for  good. 

One  says:  "My  purpose  is  to  cultivate  my- 
self. I  have  a  right  to  make  the  most  of  my 
talents  and  my  opportunities."  So  far  good. 
The  talents  and  the  opportunities  are  God's 
good  gifts.  Life  as  possessing  them  is  to  be 
lived  to-day,  for  opportunities  pass  and  talents 
may  be  lost.  But  is  your  cultivation  of  your- 
self to  the  end  that  you  may  know  God  and 
serve  him?  Otherwise  you  are  wrong.  Your 
life  is  going  astray.  Another  says :  "My  pur- 
pose is  to  care  for  my  family.  That  is  all  I 
can  do.    To  clothe,    to  house,  to  feed,  to  edu- 


24       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

cate  them,  takes  all  my  strength.  It  is  my 
task.  No  other  will  do  it."  That  is  well. 
There  is  no  better  task  for  you.  But  is  it  that 
you  may  fit  them  for  God;  to  lift  them  to  the 
plane  of  life  in  which  they  shall  know  him  and 
be  fitted  for  his  service?  Are  you  giving  them 
the  equipment  with  which  they  shall  be  chil- 
dren of  God  in  a  larger  and  truer  sense,  if  God 
will,  than  you  have  been  yourself?  Another 
says :  "My  purpose  is  to  do  good,  to  help  men." 
That  is  well.  But  why  are  you  doing  it?  Is 
your  devotion  to  your  society,  or  your  class, 
or  whatever  may  be  the  agency  to  which  you 
are  devoting  yourself,  for  your  own  satisfac- 
tion or  for  your  own  glory  and  self-praise, 
or  because  it  is  yours  and  not  another's? 
Is  it  that,  or  are  you  doing  it  for  God  to  pro- 
mote his  kingdom  and  make  known  his  love? 
If  so,  you  will  be  humble  and  patient,  and 
considerate  of  others,  and  self-sacrificing.  You 
will  find  your  reward  and  your  joy  in  the  kind- 
ness of  your  own  heart  as  at  the  close  of  the 
day  you  shut  yourself  up  alone  with  God  to 
thank  him  for  the  privilege  of  rendering  one 
more  day's  service.  Here  is  the  real  purpose 
of  life.  The  man  who  holds  and  is  held  by  it 
attains  life;  and  the  man  who  turns  from  it, 
surelv  he  loses  his  life. 


Ill 

CAN  SIN  BE  FORGIVEN? 

"Two  men  went  up  into  the  temple  to  pray;  the  one  a 
Pharisee,  and  the  other  a  publican.  The  Pharisee  stood 
and  prayed  thus  with  himself,  God,  I  thank  thee,  that  I 
am  not  as  the  rest  of  men,  extortioners,  unjust,  adul- 
terers, or  even  as  this  publican.  I  fast  twice  in  the 
week;  I  give  tithes  of  all  that  I  get.  But  the  publican, 
standing  afar  off,  would  not  lift  up  so  much  as  his  eyes 
unto  heaven,  but  smote  his  breast,  saying,  God,  be  thou 
merciful  to  me  a  sinner." — Luke  18.  10-13. 

This  story  told  by  our  Lord,  if  it  does  not 
answer  our  question,  sets  before  us  at  once 
the  real  conditions  which  underlie  it.  One 
of  these  men  did  not  believe  himself  a  sinner 
in  any  serious  sense.  The  other  knew  that  he 
was,  but  did  not  know  how  he  could  find  for- 
giveness. The  real  question  before  us  is  not 
so  much,  "Can  sin  be  forgiven?"  as,  "Are  we 
sinners?"  The  fact  is  that  we  do  not  know 
much  about  sin  in  the  biblical  sense,  or  care 
much  about  it. 

It  was  not  always  so.  It  is  not  many  years 
since  sin  was  the  burden  of  the  minister's 
preaching,  and  the  confession  of  sin  and  the 
cry  to  know  how  to  obtain  the  forgiveness  of 

25 


26       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

God  were  the  burden  on  the  hearts  and  lips 
of  his  congregation  when  their  interest  was 
aroused  and  they  turned  to  him  for  guidance. 
It  is  not  so  now.  One  seldom  hears  a  con- 
fession of  sin  in  the  old  sense,  one  that  is  any- 
thing other  than  the  acknowledgment  of  hav- 
ing gone  wrong,  or  having  done  something  that 
one  wishes  one  had  not  done,  and  there  is  good 
ground  for  the  doubt  as  to  whether  the  com- 
munity at  large  has  any  other  view  of  sin  than 
that  it  is  largely  the  result  of  ignorance  or  care- 
lessness. 

Of  course,  we  know  there  are  sinners.  I 
remember  that  when  Mr.  Moody  was  first  in 
New  York,  at  the  time  of  his  great  meetings, 
a  story  was  told  of  his  interview  with  a  rich 
lady,  who  said  to  him  when  he  was  talking  of 
the  need  of  repentance,  "Why,  Mr.  Moody,  I  am 
not  a  sinner.''  "Who,  then,  are  sinners?"  was 
the  surprised  reply.  "O,  just  young  men  in  their 
wild  davs.''  There  are  sinners  without  doubt 
to-day  in  India,  for  we  hear  of  the  licentious 
form  of  their  worship,  and  the  orgies  that  at- 
tend it,  and  we  can  well  believe  the  destructive 
effect  upon  the  people  at  large.  Over  in  China, 
also,  there  are  sinners;  and  sin  is  somewhat 
near  to  us  in  Chinatown,  if  we  can  believe  the 
story  of  what  goes  on  there.  The  "white  slave" 
traffic  also  disturbs  us  with  the  disclosure  of 


CAN  SIN  BE  FORGIVEN?  27 

sin  in  such  horrible  form  so  near  our  doors. 
We  are  shocked  also  all  too  frequently  with  the 
exposures  in  the  courts  and  newspapers  of 
men  high  in  position  in  the  great  commercial 
trusts  and  the  insurance  companies  and  the 
banks  who  are  dishonest,  or  who  even  descend 
to  mean  and  petty  forms  of  thieving.  Now  and 
again  some  prominent  member  of  the  church 
is  caught  in  similar  transactions,  and  we  know 
that  not  a  few  are  the  owners  of  tenements 
where  the  poor  of  the  city  are  herded,  and  are 
content  to  maintain  conditions  in  those  tene- 
ments unfit  for  human  habitations,  because  of 
the  profit  to  themselves.  The  divorce  courts 
distress  us  also  with  their  horrid  tales  and 
their  revelation  of  evil  among  those  whose  cir- 
cumstances would  seem  to  remove  them  from 
the  ordinar}^  temptations  of  life.  Then  there 
is  the  gambling  passion  so  hard  to  control, 
breaking  out  continually  in  circles  even  of 
Christian  people,  who  in  their  eagerness  to 
make  money  for  some  good  cause,  or  to  win 
something  for  themselves,  yield  to  the  tempta- 
tion to  join  in  schemes  that  thinly  clothe  gam- 
bling devices.  Now  and  again  we  feel  the  pres- 
sure of  the  jealousy  and  the  envy  and  the  evil- 
speaking  that  exist  in  the  world  about  us, 
from  which  even  we  ourselves  are  not  entirely 
free.    "The  woman  with  the  serpent's  tongue'' 


28      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

does  not  live  only  in  London.  We  think  of 
the  Christian  people  absorbed  in  their  own 
pursuits,  seeking  their  own  comfort,  or  success, 
or  pleasure,  with  little  sense  of  duty  to  God 
or  to  others,  and  no  sense  of  sacrifice,  and  we 
are  compelled  to  stop  and  say.  Perhaps  there 
is  more  sin  in  the  world  than  we  thought. 
Perhaps  we  are  not  so  free  as  we  could  wish. 
It  may  be  that  we  have  senses  that  are  dull 
and  need  both  conviction  of  sin  and  the  assur- 
ance of  pardon,  which  can  only  come  to  those 
who  realize  what  they  are  doing  and  truly 
repent.  The  cry  of  the  publican,  perhaps, 
should  be  far  more  general  than  it  is,  and  the 
comfortable  boast  of  the  Pharisee  should  be 
recognized  more  widely  in  its  hideous  untruth- 
fulness and  its  unrecognized  shame. 

Having  said  this,  we  now  must  ask.  What  is 
the  testimony  of  the  past?  What  have  men  al- 
ways thought  about  themselves,  and  what  has 
been  their  attitude  toward  forgiveness,  or 
their  expression  of  the  need  of  it?  Men  have 
had,  always  and  everywhere,  some  form  of 
religion,  and,  always  and  everywhere,  religion 
has  been  connected  with  sacrifices.  The  best- 
known  history  is  that  of  the  Semitic  races, 
those  from  which  our  modern  civilization  has 
chiefly  come,  and  students  have  given  much 
labor  to  interpreting  the  significance  of  their 


CAN  SIN  BE  FORGIVEN?  29 

worship.  They  have  reached  this  conclusion, 
that  the  sacrifices  which  always  accompa- 
nied the  worship  were  an  expression  of  the 
thought  that  their  sins  had  in  some  way  sepa- 
rated them  from  the  fellowship  of  their  god 
or  gods,  and  the  sacrifice  was  offered  as  a 
confession  of  the  wrong  and  a  supplication  for 
the  return  of  the  offended  deity.  The  feast 
which  always  followed  the  sacrifice  was  to 
indicate  that  the  interrupted  communion  was 
restored,  and  the  joy  which  the  feast  expressed 
was  because  of  that  restored  fellowship.  A 
meal  shared  with  others  has  always  had  some- 
thing of  that  significance.  The  Bedouin  in  the 
desert  treats  his  guest  as  a  friend  so  long  as 
they  are  eating  together,  no  matter  what  may 
be  the  real  relationship  when  they  are  outside 
the  tent. 

When  we  turn  to  the  Old  Testament  we  find 
that  it  divides  itself  into  three  great  periods. 
During  the  first  of  these,  that  extending  down 
to  about  the  eighth  century  before  the  Christian 
era,  the  thought  of  the  meaning  of  sacrifices 
was  slowly,  but  significantly,  enlarged.  They 
marked  the  effort  to  reestablish  interrupted 
communion  with  God.  They  began  also  to 
represent  something  of  the  character  of  God  as 
holy,  and  to  lay  emphasis  upon  the  inner  atti- 
tude of  the  worshiper,  both  toward  the  crime 


30       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

he  had  committed  and  the  god  whom  he  sought 
to  propitiate.  They  connected  such  propitia- 
tion with  visible  worldly  good,  and  looked 
upon  the  blessings  of  this  life,  wealth,  pros- 
perity, success  over  enemies,  bountiful  har- 
vests, as  so  many  marks  of  that  restored  rela- 
tionship. 

Then  comes  the  period  of  the  great  prophets. 
Nowhere  in  human  history  is  there  such  a 
group  of  great  men,  and  nowhere  are  there 
writings  comparable  to  those  which  bear  their 
names.  Before  all  else,  they  were  men  who 
knew  God,  and  also  knew  what  God  requires, 
and  what  separates  men  from  God.  Every- 
where they  dwell  on  the  need  of  repentance, 
active,  prompt,  and  decisive.  Their  cry  is, 
"Turn  ye,  turn  ye ;  for  why  will  ye  die,  O  house 
of  Israel?''  They  begin  to  emphasize  the  fact 
of  individual  responsibility  and  to  declare  the 
privilege  of  direct  approach  which  every  sin- 
ner has  to  God.  "Away  with  your  burnt  offer- 
ings and  sacrifices!"  they  cry.  "God  has  no 
need  of  them."  "Cleanse  your  hearts,  and  not 
your  garments."  They  tell  that  God  alone  can 
pardon,  and  that  his  pardon  purifies  the  soul. 
"Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be 
as  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be  red  like  crim- 
son, they  shall  be  as  wool."  They  sweep  aside 
the  excuse  of   circumstance   or   of  heredity. 


CAN  SIN  BE  FORGIVEN  ?  31 

"In  those  days  they  shall  say  no  more,  The 
fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes,  and  the  chil- 
dren's teeth  are  set  on  edge.  But  every  one 
shall  die  for  his  own  iniquity."  Each  one  is 
responsible  for  his  own  act.  A  man  is  a  sinner 
because  of  what  he  does  and  what  he  thinks. 

They  have  conception  of  the  vicarious  nature 
of  suffering  as  a  redemptive  agency.  The  fifty- 
third  chapter  of  Isaiah  with  its  picture  of  the 
Servant  of  God  "wounded  for  our  transgres- 
sions and  bruised  for  our  iniquity,  bearing  our 
griefs  and  carrying  our  sorrows,"  which  was 
to  become  the  graphic  description  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  suggests  that  mysterious  sharing 
in  the  work  of  atonement  bv  the  elect  of  God 
by  which  the  atoning  purpose  of  God  was  to 
be  revealed  to  the  world,  and  by  which  men  are 
to  be  bound  together  with  a  new  understanding 
of  the  meaning  and  the  purpose  of  the  sorrows 
of  life  which  make  all  men  one. 

Then  came  the  period  of  the  development  of 
the  priestly  ritual.  This  helped  to  make  effec- 
tive the  great  teaching  of  the  prophets  by  es- 
tablishing men  in  the  habit  of  worship,  and 
witnessing  to  them  of  the  new  relation  in  which 
they  stood  to  God.  Evils  arose,  as  evils  are 
sure  to  do  in  connection  with  every  temptation 
of  man  to  draw  near  to  God  in  external  ways, 
but  the  ritual  served  a  great  purpose,  as  public 


82       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

worship  and  Christian  habits  of  prayer  and 
reading  the  Scripture  serve  a  great  purpose 
to-day.  And  if  men  are  tempted  to  think  that 
they  have  fulfilled  their  obligation  to  God 
when  they  have  gone  to  church  on  the  Sabbath, 
or  have  engaged  in  some  accustomed  act  of 
private  devotion,  and  then  go  out  and  forget 
what  manner  of  men  they  are,  it  is  no  more 
to  be  charged  against  the  value  of  the  worship 
than  the  falling  away  of  Israel  is  to  be  charged 
upon  the  priestly  ritual  which  they  had  set  up. 
Through  all  this  God  had  come  to  be  known 
as  a  God  who  would  forgive  sinners.  But  much 
more  remained  to  be  known.  Forgiveness  can 
only  be  effective  to  those  who  truly  repent, 
and  true  repentance  can  only  come  to  those 
who  have  some  proper  sense  of  the  character 
of  the  God  whose  law  they  have  violated,  and 
from  whose  allegiance  they  have  departed. 
John  the  Baptist,  the  last  of  the  great  prophets, 
had  only  this  message:  "Repent,  and  make 
restitution."  Such  revelation  as  was  given 
to  him  of  God  himself  was  only  intimated  in 
a  prophetic  way  when  he  beheld  Jesus  and 
said,  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world."  But  the  fullness 
of  time  had  come,  and  God  had  sent  forth  his 
Son;  and  we  ask,  What  was  the  mission  of 
Jesus  Christ? 


CAN  SIN  BE  FORGIVEN?  SS 

He  has  told  us  himself.  He  came  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost.  The  lost  were 
not  only  the  children  of  Israel,  but  all  God's 
children;  and  his  message  was  not  to  that 
house  of  Abraham,  which  had  held  its  knowl- 
edge of  God  as  its  private  possession,  but  to 
all  God's  children ;  and  their  need  was  to  know 
the  Father.  So  we  have  him,  when  the  ques- 
tion was  crowded  upon  him  the  third  time, 
telling  the  story  of  the  lost  sheep  that  the 
shepherd  sought,  and  the  lost  money  which 
the  woman  strove  so  hard  to  find,  and  the 
story  of  the  lost  son,  which  we  call  the  story 
of  the  prodigal  son,  but  which  is  indeed  the 
story  of  the  prodigal's  father.  For  here  was 
the  purpose  of  Jesus's  coming — to  make  lost 
sons  in  all  God's  world  know  the  Father. 

From  that  Father  he  had  come.  He  now 
speaks  his  word  and  does  his  will.  His  busi- 
ness is  to  make  him  known  to  men;  to  make 
him  known  as  a  righteous  God  who  loves 
righteousness  and  hates  iniquity ;  who  can  hate 
the  sin  and  yet  love  the  sinner,  and  who  would 
deal  with  the  sinner  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 
him  also  hate  sin  and  turn  from  it,  and  love 
the  Father  and  obey  him,  and,  so  doing,  to  find 
life  for  himself. 

He  proceeds  to  show  what  this  life  from  God 
is  meant  to  be.     He  lives  the  perfect  life  in 


34      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

such  sweetness  and  beauty  that  men  see  it  and 
wonder  at  it.  But  he  shows  it  not  as  a  life 
widely  remote,  but  as  the  life  of  one  truly  of 
themselves,  touched  with  the  feeling  of  their 
infirmities,  sympathizing  with  their  sorrows, 
ministering  to  their  needs,  always  knowing 
what  is  in  the  hearts  of  men,  which  he  strives 
everywhere  to  reach,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
ministering  to  their  bodily  wants,  healing  their 
sicknesses,  calling  the  leper  to  himself  to  be 
cleansed,  opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  restor- 
ing the  son  to  the  widow,  and  weeping  at  the 
grave  of  Lazarus,  his  friend.  Then,  only,  it  is 
made  plain  to  him  that  nevertheless  those 
whom  he  has  come  to  bless  will  not  understand 
him,  and,  in  fact,  despise  him  and  will  finally 
reject  him,  and  he  proceeds  to  tell  them  that  he 
"must  suffer  many  things,  and  be  rejected  by 
the  elders,  and  be  killed.''  And  when  Peter  be- 
gins to  rebuke  him,  saying  that  this  cannot  be, 
he  turns  to  Peter  with  the  sharp  words,  "Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan."  For  his  settled  pur- 
pose is  to  do  the  will  of  God  and  make  the  love 
of  God  and  the  righteousness  of  God  known  as 
they  cannot  otherwise  be  known,  even  though 
he  must  die  to  do  so.  Thus  bearing  upon  him- 
self the  whole  weight  of  the  world's  sin,  and 
accepting  the  rejection  with  its  incredible 
wickedness,  he  utters  the  cry,  "My  God,  my 


CAN  SIN  BE  FORGIVEN?  35 

God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  And  with 
the  sublime  act  of  consecration  and  glad  sur- 
render, in  the  fullness  of  his  understanding  of 
the  divine  love,  he  prays,  "Father,  forgive 
them ;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  Then 
comes,  after  the  long  and  stormy  day,  the  quiet 
evening  with  its  peaceful  word,  "It  is  finished." 

We  ask.  What  did  Jesus  accomplish?  He 
made  God  known  to  man  as  never  before.  He 
offered  himself  a  vicarious  sacrifice  in  this 
sense,  that  he  puts  himself  in  others'  place  and 
does  what  is  necessary  to  bring  them  to  God. 
God  did  not  need  to  be  appeased.  God  was  al- 
ways merciful  and  tender.  His  loving-kind- 
ness has  been  "ever  of  old";  and  God  always 
is  the  righteous  God,  and  forgiveness  always 
can  only  be  given  to  those  who  repent  and  turn 
from  their  sin.  Forgiveness  on  any  other 
terms  would  be  impugning  the  character  of 
God.  Now  men  see  this,  and  seeing  God,  as 
Jesus  revealed  him,  see  themselves  as  they  did 
not  see  before. 

The  way  of  life  is  open.  It  is  a  straight  and 
narrow  way,  but  it  is  available  and  near  at 
hand.  The  outermost  sinner  can  find  it,  and 
the  chief  of  sinners  shall  know  that  it  is  open 
for  him ;  for  Jesus  Christ  has  come  to  take  him 
by  the  hand  and  to  lead  him  step  by  step  to 
God.    Jesus  himself  becomes  the  embodiment 


36       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

of  a  new  covenant.  God  witnesses  to  himself 
in  him,  and  by  that  witness  to  himself  seals  the 
promise  that  men  who  will  accept  that  revela- 
tion of  God  which  Jesus  has  made,  who  will 
believe  it,  and  will  begin  to  do  the  will  of  God 
as  Jesus  has  made  that  will  known,  shall  have 
the  assurance  not  only  that  their  sins  are  for- 
given, but  that  God  by  his  Spirit  will  take  pos- 
session of  their  hearts  and  will  abide  with 
them  in  their  life.  They  shall  have  strength 
against  temptation  and  power  to  do  right. 
They  shall  grow  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge 
of  God.  The  work  that  has  begun  shall  ad- 
vance through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
earthly  life,  and  in  spite  of  many  weaknesses, 
and  many  possible  falls,  they  will  be  sustained 
and  cheered  and  not  suffered  to  be  overcome. 
The  love  of  God  in  their  hearts  will  well  over 
into  an  abounding  love  for  others.  The  sac- 
rificial work  of  Jesus  Christ  in  their  behalf 
will  inspire  them  to  sacrificial  lives  for  their 
fellow  men.  They  will  feel  a  sympathy  of  the 
kind  that  Jesus  felt,  and  by  the  grace  of  God 
will  be  enabled  to  show  a  helpfulness  as  real 
as  was  his. 

Greater  works  indeed  he  promised  that  they 
should  do,  and  the  world  to-day  has  abundant 
evidence  of  those  works.  At  last,  when  God's 
work  in  them  and  with  them  is  done,  and  they 


CAN  SIN  BE  FORGIVEN  ?  37 

have  played  their  part  in  bringing  in  his  king- 
dom in  the  world,  he  will  take  them  unto  him- 
self. They  shall  see  their  Lord  as  he  is,  and 
find  that  they  have  grown  so  much  into  his 
likeness,  into  the  understanding  of  his  purpose 
and  the  acceptance  of  his  life,  that  where  he  is 
shall  be  to  them  heaven  and  home.  These  men 
have  found  their  God.  They  are  restored  to 
that  fellowship  with  him  which  the  heart 
craves,  for  the  old  word  of  Augustine  is  eter- 
nally true,  "Thou  hast  made  me  for  thyself,  and 
my  heart  cannot  rest  apart  from  thee."  And 
now,  having  found  God,  they  love  Jesus  Christ 
and  bear  his  name  because  it  was  through  him 
that  God  came  to  them. 


IV 

WHAT  GOD  HAS  DONE  FOR  THE  WORLD 

"God  hath  at  the  end  of  these  days  spoken  unto  us  in 
his  son." — Hebrews  1.  2. 

Why  not  be  content?  We  have  done  our 
best;  or,  we  cannot  alter  conditions;  or,  we 
are  reasonably  happy.  Why  disturb  ourselves 
with  questions  as  to  what  lies  behind,  or  with 
matters  with  which  we  have  no  immediate  con- 
cern? It  seems  easy  for  many  to  live  on  from 
day  to  day  and  perhaps  from  year  to  year  sat- 
isfied with  this.  But  there  are  hours  when  we 
must  think;  times  even  when  we  must  ask, 
What  does  God  see  as  he  looks  at  our  world? 

Always  there  is  much  evil;  not  simply  that 
now  and  then  we  are  startled  by  some  alarming 
instance  of  oppression  or  cruelty  or  personal 
dishonesty  or  the  strife  and  clash  of  opposing 
interests,  but  we  are  made  aware  that  these 
things  exist,  although  it  may  be  possible  for 
us  to  ignore  them,  or  to  be  indifferent  to  them 
much  of  the  time.  We  like  to  fix  our  thoughts  on 
signs  of  improvement  in  the  world^s  condition. 
We  assert  with  more  or  less  assurance  that 
the  world  is  growing  better.    There  is  much  of 

38 


WHAT  GOD  HAS  DONE  39 

what  passes  for  progress,  and  unquestionably 
great  advance  in  man's  mastery  over  the  pow- 
ers of  nature,  and  in  the  extent  of  his  knowl- 
edge as  to  how  to  prolong  his  life  and  to  secure 
that  accumulation  of  possessions  which  pro- 
motes his  material  well-being. 

But  the  insistent  question  returns,  What 
does  God  see  in  this  world  in  which  we  strive 
so  hard  to  insure  our  own  well-being,  and 
therewith  to  be  content?  God  looks  not  on  the 
outward  appearance.  He  sees  the  evils  that 
trouble  us;  but  he  traces  evil  to  its  source; 
and  evil  traced  to  its  source  becomes  sin.  In 
his  eye  it  is  not  sufficient  to  arrest  the  evil  or 
ameliorate  its  effects ;  for  the  sin  remains.  If 
employers  are  unjust  in  dealing  with  their  em- 
ployees, law  and  awakened  public  opinion  may 
remedy  the  evil,  but  the  selfishness  that  in- 
spired the  oppression  remains  untouched  and 
awaits  only  the  new  opportunity,  which  will 
require  new  resistance,  and  which  meanwhile 
is  hardening  the  heart  and  establishing  the 
character.  The  group  of  angry  strikers  mal- 
treats the  girl  who  remains  at  work.  A  few 
arrests  may  cause  the  violence  to  cease,  but  the 
bitter  hatred  remains.  In  a  given  State  amend- 
ing the  divorce  law  may  do  much  to  bring  peace 
in  homes  that  otherwise  would  be  disturbed, 
and  to  secure  better  marital  relations,  but  un- 


40       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

controlled  passion,  vanity,  self-indulgence,  im- 
patience, are  not  reached.  The  embezzler  may 
be  imprisoned  and  the  money  restored,  but  his 
heart  is  unchanged,  and  the  unchanged  heart 
is  the  fruitful  source  of  every  evil.  The  old 
Puritan  preacher,  Andrew  Fuller,  said  that 
twenty  years  or  more  before  he  had  heard  an 
evil  jest  which  he  had  never  been  able  to  for- 
get ;  whereas  he  had  heard  many  beautiful  good 
things  said  since  then  which  he  had  altogether 
forgotten.  Whereupon  he  commented,  "The 
heart  is  a  foul  pool,  wherein  good  fish  die,  but 
frogs  survive." 

So  we  must  ask.  Does  God  care ;  and  need  we 
care?  It  is  an  old  question.  God  has  seemed 
far  off,  or  quite  out  of  this  world,  and  men  in 
their  thoughtful  hours  have  turned  here  and 
there  seeking  guidance.  They  interrogated 
Philosophy,  saying:  "Tell  us  what  we  must 
do  to  live";  and  Philosophy  said  in  reply: 
"Endure!  Be  the  master  of  your  own  emo- 
tions. Rise  above  the  vicissitudes  of  life.  Let 
the  world  wag  on  as  it  will.  Only  do  not  wear 
your  heart  on  your  sleeve.  If  you  must  suffer, 
suffer  bravely.  If  successful,  be  content.  If 
you  fail,  try  again.  It  will  not  last  forever, 
and  we  all  go  down  at  last  to  a  common  grave 
and  to  the  unknown."  Then  men  turned  to 
Culture,  and  Culture  said :  "Grow.  Lift  your- 


WHAT  GOD  HAS  DONE  41 

self  above  the  common  things  of  life.  Adorn 
your  home.  Cultivate  your  talents.  Refine 
your  person  and  your  surroundings.  Be  de- 
corous. Be  gentle  in  manners.  Be  civilized 
in  life.  Separate  yourself  from  the  vulgar  and 
the  base.  Live  the  exalted  and  solitary  life 
of  the  man  who  is  able  to  lift  himself  above  all 
that  is  low  and  ignorant.  Try  to  believe  that 
the  further  you  get  from  men,  the  nearer  you 
are  to  God."  But  men  could  not  be  satisfied 
with  this,  for  they  found  that  no  man  can  by 
culture  escape  from  himself.  He  may  succeed 
in  cleansing  the  outside  of  the  platter,  and  may 
still  be  a  whited  sepulcher  within.  Then  men 
turned  to  the  world  at  large,  and  the  world 
said :  "Live  while  you  live.  Fill  to  the  brim 
the  cup  of  pleasure.  Eat,  drink,  and  be  merry. 
Have  a  good  time  wherever  you  are  and  what- 
ever the  conditions,  for  to-morrow  we  die." 
And  there  have  always  been  multitudes  who 
try  to  take  the  advice;  and  everywhere  there 
have  been  great  centers  of  luxury  and  of  pleas- 
ure toward  which  the  hearts  of  the  multitude 
have  turned.  The  fascination  of  "seeing  life" 
is  not  new. 

But  the  old  question  has  been  insistent,  and 
continually  men  have  turned  to  some  form  of 
worship  which  has  passed  to  them  for  religion, 
much  of  it  being  Superstition;  and  Supersti- 


42       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

tion  has  said  to  them:  "Adopt  a  ritual.  Go 
through  religious  performances,  the  more  aus- 
tere and  prolonged  the  better.  Leave  the  world 
to  its  own  devices.  Turn,  at  least  for  a  time, 
to  the  doing  of  what  you  have  been  taught,  or 
the  guidance  of  a  priestly  expert.  Seek  the  aid 
of  the  properly  initiated,  and  then  dismiss  all 
further  care.''  And,  nevertheless,  men  doing 
this,  when  they  came  to  themselves  and  knew 
their  own  hearts,  have  exclaimed  with  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  "O  wretched  man  that  I  am !  The  good 
that  I  would  I  do  not:  but  the  evil  which  I 
would  not,  that  I  do." 

Turning  away  from  all  these  sources  of  re- 
lief, weary  and  oppressed,  or  frivolous  and  in- 
different, men  came  to  talk  about  God  and  evil 
as  men  talk  to-day.  They  confounded  morality 
with  religion.  They  found  it  easy  to  hold  that 
God  is  good,  and  indifferent.  They  made 
character  a  matter  of  taste,  and  religion  a  fad. 
Even  to-day  sentimentality  may  be  seen  tak- 
ing the  place  of  a  serious  view  of  truth.  And 
public  teachers  are  found  making  the  mistake 
of  supposing  that  if  they  are  "only  vivacious 
enough,  and  actual  enough,  they  will  enable 
men  to  become  good  without  God." 

And  the  world  finds  no  peace.  Men  talk  of 
law,  and  progress,  and  evolution.  They  have 
lengthened    indefinitely    human    history,    but 


WHAT  GOD  HAS  DONE  43 

morally  the  work  is  yet  to  be  done.  Evil 
abounds,  and  the  struggle  with  sin  in  the  indi- 
vidual heart  is  as  keen  and  as  hopeless  as  ever. 
Men  deny  the  existence  of  God  in  this  world, 
or  in  the  other,  because  the  world  about  them 
gives  so  much  more  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  the  devil.  Reginald  Campbell  writes :  "The 
poor  crippled  child,  who  has  been  maimed  by 
a  falling  rock,  and  the  white-faced  matchbox- 
maker,  who  works  eighteen  hours  out  of  the 
twenty-four  to  keep  body  and  soul  together, 
have  surely  some  sort  of  a  claim  upon  God 
apart  from  being  miserable  sinners  who  must 
account  themselves  fortunate  to  be  forgiven 
for  Christ's  sake.  .  .  .  This  kind  of  a  God 
is  no  God  at  all.  The  theologian  may  call  him 
infinite,  but  in  practice  he  is  finite.  He  may 
call  him  a  God  of  love,  but  in  practice  he  is 
spiteful  and  silly."  Men  have  come  to  be  more 
shocked  by  sin  against  a  fellow  man  than  by 
sin  against  God,  and  the  thought  of  God  in  the 
beauty  and  perfection  of  the  divine  character 
seems  as  remote  as  it  ever  was. 

But  with  this  as  the  record  and  the  evidence 
of  the  world  about  us,  when  we  turn  to  the 
story  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  revelation  that 
God  has  made  of  himself  in  him,  we  find 
at  once  startling  testimony  concerning  God's 
judgment  of  sin.     This  is  the  single  possible 


44       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

interpretation  of  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus 
Christ.  He  was  "despised  and  rejected,  a  man 
of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief,"  be- 
cause he  was  "wounded  for  our  transgressions 
and  bruised  for  our  iniquities."  Never  did  sin 
seem  so  sinful,  and  never  was  man's  need  of 
forgiveness  more  pronounced.  The  testimony 
even  of  physical  science  is  expressed  in  the 
words  of  Sir  Oliver  Lodge:  "The  sacrifice  of 
Christ  has  convinced  the  world  of  sin,  to  a 
unique  degree,  of  its  relation  and  dire  conse- 
quences, of  its  unreasonableness,  its  aspect  as 
a  disease  that  must  be  cured — with  a  knife  if 
need  be,  but  cured;  we  have  learned  that  it  is 
foreign  to  the  universe,  it  is  not  the  will  of 
God,  it  is  not  due  to  his  caprice,  or  amusement, 
or  dictation,  or  predestination,  or  pagan  ex- 
ample; it  is  something  which  gives  even  him 
pain  and  suffering,  it  is  something  to  be  rid 
of,  and  there  is  no  peace  or  joy  to  be  had  until 
unity  of  will  is  secured  and  past  rebellions  are 
forgiven.  Forgiveness  removes  no  penalty; 
it  may  even  increase  pain,  though  only  of  a 
regenerative  kind;  it  leaves  material  conse- 
quences unaltered,  but  it  may  achieve  spiritual 
reform."^ 

Men  cannot  listen  to  Jesus  Christ,  or  give 
themselves  to  his  service,  without  awakening 

»  Hibbert  Journal,  October,  1904,  pp.  24,  25. 


WHAT  GOD  HAS  DONE  45 

to  the  full  significance  of  sin  as  involving  per- 
sonal degradation  and  permanent  separation 
from  God,  or  without  the  discovery  that  this 
conviction  of  sin  opens  the  way  to  a  knowledge 
of  God  and  the  restitution  to  fellowship  with 
God  that  otherwise  were  both  unknown  and 
unsought.  Through  Jesus  Christ  we  learn  that 
God  is  one  with  us  in  sympathy  and  in  sorrow. 
Sin  is  not  merely  a  violation  of  his  law;  it 
is  a  burden  on  his  heart,  a  grief,  a  defeat.  God 
is  a  Father  in  the  sense  of  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal.  He  suffers  far  more  keenly  than  the 
wandering  son  in  his  life  of  alienation.  He 
fights  his  grief  far  harder  than  the  son  does 
in  his  effort  to  be  content  with  his  surround- 
ings. He  yearns  with  an  infinite  love  for  his 
child's  restoration  and  return,  and  is  eager  to 
do  all  that  is  possible  to  win  him  back;  and 
when  he  comes,  he  greets  him  with  a  love  be- 
yond words  in  its  tenderness,  its  pity,  its  heal- 
ing power,  because  he  himself  is  so  wrapped 
up  in  the  son  of  his  love.  This  was  the  great 
truth  that  the  world  never  had  known  and 
which  the  world  to-day  finds  it  so  hard  to  be- 
lieve, that  God  could  "so  love  the  world"  in  its 
sin,  no  less  than  in  its  sorrow. 

Furthermore,  Jesus  Christ  shows  that  God 
is  effective  to  save.  He  hates  sin  and  loves  the 
sinner.    He  sympathizes  and  he  suffers,  but  he 


46       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

also  can  save.  To-day  evidence  is  to  be  seen 
everywhere.  Men  are  actually  changed.  They 
have  new  hearts,  and  live  new  lives,  by  just  so 
much  as  they  are  seen  to  give  themselves  to  the 
service  of  Jesus  Christ.  Coarse  and  wicked 
lives  are  purified.  Selfish  hearts  are  made 
generous.  Suffering  and  want  and  death  are 
faced,  not  simply  with  patience  and  courage, 
but  with  serenity  and  peace. 

Wherever  Jesus  Christ  goes,  there  human 
life  is  restored  and  ennobled.  The  spirit  of 
Christ  as  a  matter  of  visible  experience  does 
change  men  from  sin  to  holiness;  from  bitter 
revolt  to  peace  and  joy.  It  gives  a  meaning  to 
life  which  cannot  be  affected  by  weariness,  or 
pain,  or  poverty;  and  that  not  simply  in  the 
army  of  devoted  men  and  women  who,  giving 
up  at  home  all  that  makes  life  sweet  and 
precious,  have  gone  to  carry  the  gospel  of  a 
forgiving  God  to  the  ends  of  the  world  in  mis- 
sionary service,  but  in  the  far  larger  number 
who,  called  to  abide  in  the  conditions  in  which 
they  are  found,  as  workers  in  the  ordinary  serv- 
ice of  life,  merchants  and  mechanics,  soldiers 
and  sailors,  lawyers  and  doctors,  are  living 
as  God  would  have  them  live,  serving  their  fel- 
low men  and  bringing  in  the  kingdom  of  God, 
doing  a  steadfast  and  loving  duty  to  God  and 
their  neighbors  with  dignity  and  strength  and 


WHAT  GOD  HAS  DONE  47 

a  growing  self-mastery  which  the  world  al- 
ready has  come  to  recognize  as  typical  of  men 
who  have  a  right  to  call  themselves  Christians. 
It  is  true  that  wrong  endures;  that  the  king- 
dom of  Christ  comes  but  slowly;  that  many 
who  hear  his  name  are  unworthy,  and,  as 
Browning  says, 

"His  sad  face  on  ttie  Cross  sees  only  this 
After  the  passion  of  a  thousand  years." 

But  he  sees  far  more  than  this.  He  sees  a 
multitude  of  humble  disciples  fighting  a  good 
fight,  keeping  the  faith,  and  doing  their  best 
to  bring  in  the  day  of  his  final  triumph.  This 
is  the  irrefutable  evidence  that  God  is  in  his 
world,  and  it  is  well  with  all  who  serve  him. 


ON  WHAT  CONDITION  IS  HEAVEN  TO  BE 
ATTAINED? 

"In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions;  if  it  were 
not  so,  I  would  have  told  you;  for  I  go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you, 
I  come  again,  and  will  receive  you  unto  myself;  that 
where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also." — John  14.  2,  3. 

For  some  reason,  nowadays,  we  are  not 
much  concerned  about  heaven.  The  life  we 
know  is  full,  absorbing,  and  brief.  It  is  a 
man's  work.  Heaven  as  pictured  by  winged 
cherubs  and  diaphanous  angels  does  not  ap- 
peal to  us ;  it  does  not  suggest  a  man's  work. 

In  one  experience  we  all  are  alike — ^we  all 
were  born.  Another  inevitable  experience 
awaits  us  all — we  all  shall  surely  die.  We 
ought  to  be  concerned  about  what  is  beyond. 
It  is  certain  that  we  cannot  come  back  and 
try  life  again. 

The  question,  On  what  condition  is  heaven 
to  be  attained?  divides  itself  into  two  parts, 
Where  and  what  is  heaven?  and.  How  can  we 
get  there?  When  we  have  answered  the  one 
we  can  quickly  settle  the  other. 

48 


HOW  TO  ATTAIN  HEAVEN  49 

One  thing  we  know  with  certainty :  Heaven 
is  a  place  of  service.  God's  universe  is  dy- 
namic. Everything  about  us  suggests  move- 
ment. Each  form  of  existence  stands  related  to 
every  other.  Each  contributes  to  some  other, 
and  our  knowledge  delights  to  find  everywhere 
signs  of  what  we  know  as  progress,  or  move- 
ment, from  the  lower  to  the  higher.  Life  when 
we  come  to  know  it  is  always  outreaching ;  and 
life  is  from  God.  God's  work  surely  is  not 
done  with  this  world ;  nor  is  it  conceivable  as 
limited  by  this  world.  Heaven  is  conceivable 
only  as  a  place  of  continued  energy.  When 
John,  therefore,  describing  the  New  Jerusalem 
come  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  the  glori- 
fied abode  of  redeemed  souls,  says  as  his  final 
word  that  there  his  servants  are  serving  him, 
we  see  that  the  familiar  description, 

"Where  congregations  ne'er  break  up. 
And  Sabbaths  have  no  end," 

is  transcendental  and  incomplete.    Heaven  in 
the  Bible  is  a  man's  heaven. 

It  is  also  a  place  where  service  succeeds. 
The  disaster  of  the  life  that  we  know  is  that 
here  so  much  does  not  succeed.  Turn  where 
you  will,  there  is  disappointment  and  failure. 
Take  the  records  of  commercial  life,  where 
failure  is  recorded  at  a  percentage  hard  to 
believe.    Look  at  the  great  number  of  men  in 


50       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

every  profession  who,  having  laboriously  pre- 
pared themselves  for  their  career,  find  either 
no  opportunity  adequate  to  their  attainments 
or  their  needs,  or  find  it  only  to  suffer  disap- 
pointment. They  cannot  take  advantage  of 
it,  or  it  comes  too  late.  Continually  death 
dogs  our  heels,  and  ill  health  constantly  in- 
capacitates us.  Heaven  is  to  be  a  place  that 
knows  no  failures ;  for  it  is  a  place  w^here  God's 
will  is  done,  and  the  essential  feature  of  all 
who  shall  enter  heaven  is  that  they  are  at  one 
with  God.  They  will  what  God  wills,  and, 
therefore,  what  they  will  cannot  fail.  There 
"the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  the 
weary  are  at  rest,"  because  there  nothing  en- 
ters that  can  interfere  with  the  doing  of  the 
will  of  God,  and  there  all  are  upheld  with  the 
cheer  of  inevitable  success. 

Furthermore,  it  is  a  place  where  service  sat- 
isfies. This  seems  more  difficult.  We  all  are 
so  different  one  from  another;  we  want  dif- 
ferent things.  It  is  hard  for  us  to  conceive  a 
life,  however  beautiful,  which  will  satisfy  all. 
But  God  has  made  himself  known  to  us  as  our 
Father,  and  a  father  never  loses  the  individual 
child  in  the  family  group.  His  love  and  his 
care  and  his  planing  are  all  for  each  as  if  each 
was  the  sole  object  of  his  affection.  At  least 
this  is  our  conception  of  fatherhood,  and  what 


HOW  TO  ATTAIN  HEAVEN  51 

we  all  aim  at  and  delight  to  think.  Its  only 
limitations  are  those  which  come  from  the  im- 
perfection of  our  own  powers.  But  that  im- 
perfection cannot  apply  to  the  heavenly  Father. 
His  provision  is  adequate  for  all  and  adjusted 
to  each.  We  may  be  sure  that  that  life  which 
is  to  be  the  goal  and  final  reward  for  his  serv- 
ants on  earth  will  bring  to  each  supreme  con- 
tentment. Furthermore,  there  are  certain 
things  which  satisfy  every  man  because  we  are 
men.  Harmony  and  beauty  and  truth  and  joy 
and  the  sense  of  right  and  peace,  these  belong 
to  what  we  think  as  supreme  good,  good  in  its 
very  nature,  good  for  which  we  are  prepared; 
and  all  this  belongs  to  heaven,  which  God  has 
made  for  those  who  love  him.  This  is  the  story 
that  runs  through  the  entire  New  Testament. 
Peter  says,  "We  look  for  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness." 
Paul  thinks  that  the  time  for  his  departure  is 
at  hand.  He  exclaims,  "Henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  the  crown  of  righteousness, 
which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give 
to  me  at  that  day ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  also 
to  all  them  that  have  loved  his  appearing ;"  and 
John  knows  heaven  as  the  abode  of  those  who 
have  "washed  their  robes  and  made  them  w^hite 
in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb." 

We  also  know  with  certainty  that  heaven  is 


52       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

a  place  of  growth.  This  is  the  mark  distinctive 
of  life.  Life  is  not  only  f orthputting ;  it  is 
forthputting  for  a  purpose.  It  seeks  every- 
where to  attain  to  something  more  and  better. 
The  bud  becomes  the  flower;  the  sapling  the 
tree ;  the  child  the  man.  Herein  lies  the  blight 
and  misery  of  death.  We  cannot  conceive  of 
life  continuing  in  the  face  of  death ;  for  death 
obliterates  all  hope  of  growth.  There  seems 
to  be  nothing  beyond.  When,  therefore,  we  are 
told  that  death  is  conquered  and  life  is  to  be 
restored,  at  once  we  are  possessed  with  the 
thought  of  continuous  growth.  We  have  the 
vision  of  ever-enlarging  powers,  of  infinite 
possibility  of  attainment.  This  is  why  the 
revelations  of  the  Scripture  always  move  us 
to  awe.  Whenever  we  contemplate  the  story 
of  a  man  lifted  out  of  the  ordinary  conditions 
in  which  death  seems  to  end  all,  we  find  our- 
selves arrested  with  the  thought  of  the  possi- 
bilities that  must  then  have  opened  before  him. 
Enoch  "walked  with  God,  and  was  not,  for 
God  took  him.''  We  wonder  what  Enoch  saw, 
and  how  he  felt,  and  what  new  powers  were 
given,  and  what  development  of  his  own  pow- 
ers, beyond  imagination,  appeared.  Moses  on 
the  mount  talked  with  God,  and  God  "passed 
before  him,"  with  that  merciful  restraint  of 
revelation  which  alone  a  man  could  bear,  for 


HOW  TO  ATTAIN  HEAVEN  63 

"no  man  can  see  the  face  of  God  and  live."  And 
as  God  "covered  him  with  his  hand"  and 
passed  by,  and  with  the  sense  of  the  divine 
presence  he  knew  "Jehovah,  a  God  merciful 
and  gracious,  slow  to  anger,  and  abundant  in 
loving-kindness  and  truth,"  we  recognize  an 
anticipation  of  the  day  when  the  redeemed 
"shall  see  him  as  he  is,  and  be  like  him." 

So  with  all  the  prophets.  They  had  visions 
of  God,  and  with  them  came  that  uplift  of 
the  soul  which  made  them  at  once  the  men  they 
are,  unique  in  their  position  in  human  history, 
in  their  account  of  God,  and  in  their  hold  upon 
the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men  in  every  age 
who  long  to  know  God.  And  when  we  come 
to  the  beloved  disciple  alone  on  the  rocky  islet 
with  the  glories  of  the  ^gean  sunset,  changing 
into  the  splendors  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  we 
are  prepared  to  find  his  powers  failing  in  his 
attempt  to  describe  for  us  the  wonders  of  the 
world  that  for  the  moment  was  visible  to  him. 

The  transcendent  truth  that  runs  through 
all  is  that  heaven  is  the  place  of  the  enlarge- 
ment of  those  powers  with  which  human  life 
is  endowed  as  the  summit  and  the  crown  of 
God's  work  in  this  world.  In  the  world  that 
lies  beyond,  these  powers  are  surely  to  expand 
and  develop  in  directions  that  are  limitless, 
until  the  mind  falters  in  its  attempt  to  picture 


54       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

to  itself  what  is  the  life  which  God  has  as- 
sured to  us. 

In  that  world  up  to  which  the  long  patience 
and  compassion  of  God  has  led,  we  also  know 
with  certainty  that  heaven  is  the  place  for  the 
completed  work  of  Jesus  Christ.  That  work 
was  to  bring  men  to  God.  And  this  was  the 
way  of  it.  He  made  sin  hateful.  He  showed 
that  it  was  sin  against  God,  our  heavenly 
Father.  He  set  the  Pharisee,  in  his  supreme 
complacency,  over  against  the  poor  publican 
beating  against  his  breast  and  not  lifting  so 
much  as  his  eyes  to  heaven,  as  he  cried,  "God, 
be  thou  merciful  to  me  a  sinner^' ;  and  men  saw 
what  sin  really  is  in  the  setting  up  in  the  heart 
of  something  else  than  God  as  the  supreme 
object  of  love  and  of  obedience.  Men  began 
to  see  what  it  means  to  transgress  God's  com- 
mandments, to  rebel  against  the  doing  of  his 
will,  to  harden  one's  heart  against  him,  and,  as 
Jesus  showed  the  Father  in  his  love  and  purity 
and  forbearance  and  righteousness,  men  re- 
pented of  their  sin  and  turned  to  God,  and  God 
had  mercy  upon  them  and  gave  them  new 
hearts,  and  opened  for  them  the  possibilities 
of  a  new  life. 

Then  men  with  this  new  attitude  of  soul  to- 
ward God  and  this  new  disposition  of  the  mind 
began  to  live.    They  set  themselves,  stumbling, 


HOW  TO  ATTAIN  HEAVEN  55 

it  is  true,  but  none  the  less  sincerely  and  ear- 
nestly, to  doing  the  will  of  God,  serving  him. 
And  then  a  new  joy  came.  It  was  the  foretaste 
of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth.  Life  itself 
began  to  change.  It  acquired  a  new  valuation. 
It  became  a  pilgrimage  rather  than  an  attain- 
ment, a  progress  rather  than  a  goal.  Death 
was  robbed  of  its  fears,  for  there  was  the  as- 
surance that  it  is  the  gateway  to  a  life  beyond, 
where  God  is,  and  where  the  fullness  of  the 
possessions  which  God  has  made  possible  for 
his  children  is  to  be  attained. 

There,  and  there  only,  is  to  be  found  the  key 
to  the  mystery  of  life  as  it  is  here.  Its  limi- 
tations will  be  removed.  Its  perplexities  will 
be  understood.  Its  restricted  conditions  will 
be  seen  to  have  been  helps  to  its  enduring  at- 
tainments, its  sorrows  but  the  shadows  by  the 
experience  of  which  its  final  lights  are  to  be 
made  eternally  radiant.  There  is  the  final 
work  of  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  the  abode  of 
the  redeemed  souls  whose  presentation  to  the 
Father  is  to  be  to  him  the  final  satisfaction. 

And  now  we  ask,  what  are  the  conditions 
upon  which  this  heaven  is  to  be  attained? 
Jesus  Christ,  think  of  him  as  you  will,  is  the 
most  startling  fact  in  human  history.  His 
birth  and  life  and  teachings  and  death  taken 
together  stand  incomparable.    As  an  event  it 


56       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

certainly  means  something.  It  is  not  a  the- 
ology or  a  theory.  Its  eiTects  are  real,  and 
their  influence  like  them  enduring.  The  world 
needed  him.  He  came,  and  from  that  day  the 
world  was  changed.  You  and  I  even  are  not 
the  same  that  we  would  have  been  had  he  not 
come.  Our  ancestry,  our  surroundings,  our 
ideals,  the  very  conditions  of  the  life  that  we 
live,  our  training,  our  hopes,  the  goal  we  have 
before  us,  all  are  other  than  they  would  have 
been  but  for  Jesus  Christ.  Conceive,  there- 
fore, of  Jesus  Christ  as  you  will,  the  fact  is 
that  he  drew  a  line  and  forced  an  abiding  dis- 
tinction between  the  men  who  seek  to  know 
God  and  those  who  do  not,  or  in  the  same  man 
before  and  after  he  makes  his  choice  in  that 
decision  which  Jesus  Christ  sets  before  him. 
His  cross  has  become  the  supreme  symbol  in 
the  world's  religion,  because  it  expresses  what 
to-day  the  world  knows  as  God's  judgment  of 
sin.  On  that  cross  the  Son  of  God  died  because 
of  sin,  yours  and  mine.  It  was  that  we  might 
be  forgiven,  and  henceforth  might  be  different 
men.  In  the  language  of  the  apostle,  he  "died 
unto  sin  that  we  might  live  unto  righteous- 
ness." That  opens  heaven;  that  makes  it  a 
place  for  those  who  seek  righteousness.  Hence- 
forth heaven,  in  the  last  analysis,  is  character; 
is  fellowship  with  Him  who  did  the  will  of 


HOW  TO  ATTAIN  HEA\^N  57 

God  and  taught  men  to  do  the  same.  To  be 
with  him  is,  to  the  man  who  loves  God,  to  be 
with  one  of  whom  he  says,  "This  is  he  my  soul 
loves."  Heaven  is  not  a  place  of  visions  or 
dreams,  or  weakness  or  regrets,  but  of  glad 
tribute  to  Jesus  Christ,  through  whom  we 
know  God,  a  tribute  expressed  in  a  humble, 
grateful,  but  full,  eager,  earnest,  and  ever- 
growing life  in  our  Father's  house.  In  the 
words  of  the  Lord's  promise,  it  is  to  be  "with 
him,  where  he  is." 

How  shall  we  attain  that  heaven?  By  heed- 
ing him,  opening  our  hearts  to  his  love,  giving 
ourselves  to  his  service,  here  below.  Do  you 
ask,  what  of  the  men  who  never  knew  Jesus 
Christ?  It  is  sad  to  think  of  the  world's  grop- 
ing for  God.  But  how  many  of  that  vast  multi- 
tude who  have  never  heard  his  name  are  per- 
haps truly  longing  and  striving  after  God, 
and,  when  the  curtain  of  death  is  drawn,  will 
for  the  first  time  see  Him  for  whom  they  have 
yearned,  and  in  beholding  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ  will  know  that  redeeming  love  which 
with  all  their  might  they  have  sought  but  could 
not  find  I  That  little  Japanese  woman  who  told 
the  story  of  her  going  out  as  a  child  into  the 
garden  in  Japan  to  pray  to  the  unknown  God 
for  the  restoration  of  her  sick  mother  to  health, 
and  who  in  gratitude  because  of  that  restora- 


58       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

tion  had  loved  him,  though  unknown,  and  car- 
ried his  love  in  her  heart,  when  she  came  to 
America  and  heard  in  a  mission  church  the 
story  of  Jesus,  and  remained  after  the  service 
and  said  to  the  leader,  "Tell  me  of  him,  for 
I  have  loved  him,  and  have  worshiped  him, 
though  I  never  knew  his  name,''  is  but  the 
picture  of  others  whom  God  alone  can  know, 
w^ho  will  at  last  be  seen  in  that  great  multi- 
tude out  of  every  kindred,  and  nation,  and 
clime,  who  shall  sing  the  song  of  the  redeemed 
and  cry,  "Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain ; 
for  he  has  redeemed  us  unto  himself  V' 

When  Jesus  spoke  of  his  Father's  house 
with  the  many  mansions  and  the  prepared 
place,  he  also  said,  "I  am  the  way,  and  the 
truth,  and  the  life:  no  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father,  but  by  me."  The  word  abides;  the 
condition  of  attaining  the  heaven  into  which 
he  has  gone,  the  heaven  of  the  pure  in  heart 
who  see  God,  is  to  bring  one's  heart  to  him  to 
be  made  pure,  and  to  take  up  with  him,  even 
now,  the  life  that  is  life  indeed.  It  is  a  strait 
and  narrow  way,  a  way  of  honesty  and  self- 
denial,  of  purity  and  of  truth,  often  a  way  of 
cross-bearing  and  of  sacrifice,  but  a  way  of 
strength  and  joy  and  peace,  a  way  out  of  dark- 
ness into  ineffable  light,  a  way  open  to  you 
and  me  and  whosoever  will  to-day! 


VI 


THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
FAITH.— I 

"Neither  shall  they  say,  Lo,  here!  or,  There!  for  lo,  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." — Luke  17.  21. 

Men  are  saying  concerning  religion  that 
this,  and  that,  is  not  essential.  A  belief  in 
miracles,  or  the  Virgin  Birth,  or  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ,  or  his  divinity,  or  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity,  or  the  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
ture, is  thus  set  aside,  or  held  indifferent. 
And  the  statement  is  so  frequently  made  that 
we  are  forced  to  ask.  Are  these,  any  or  all, 
essential  to  faith? 

Theoretically  they  certainly  are  not,  for  all 
are  in  one  sense  doctrines,  and  religion  does 
not  consist  in  the  holding  of  theological  opin- 
ions. Religion  is  an  experience,  an  attitude 
of  the  soul.  It  is  a  life,  the  life  of  God  in  the 
soul  of  man,  with  character  as  its  result.  We 
like  to  think  of  this  relation  to  God  as  direct 
and  immediate,  depending  upon  no  external 
aid  or  intermediary ;  and  this  has  been  the  con- 
tention ever  since  the  great  days  of  the  Refor- 
mation, namely,  that  no  priest,  or  church,  or 

69 


60       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

sacrifice,  or  ceremonial,  is  necessary  in  order 
to  bring  the  sinful  and  penitent  soul  into  com- 
munication with  his  God,  or  to  make  sure  to 
any  such  penitent  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins 
which,  through  the  sacrifice  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  is  freely  offered  to  all  the  world.  The 
test  of  the  acceptance  of  this  pardon  and  access 
to  God  is  the  subsequent  life  of  the  believer. 
No  other  test  is  satisfactory.  The  world  is 
correct  in  its  instinctive  judgment.  It  holds 
that  men  are  what  they  do.  Whatever  a  man 
does  he  was  capable  of  doing,  and  his  deeds  are 
inseparable  from  himself.  As  he  thinks  in  his 
heart,  so  he  does,  and  in  the  long  run  the  out- 
ward life  and  the  inward  thought  correspond, 
whatever  a  man's  profession,  or  whatsoever 
appearance  he  may  seek  to  preserve  or  put  on 
before  men.  What  is  essential  to  a  saving 
faith  God  alone  can  determine,  for  God  alone 
knows  the  heart;  and  the  truth  concerning  a 
man's  heart  can  only  be  open  to  the  all-seeing 
God,  and  to  the  man  himself  by  so  much  as  he 
is  enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  According 
to  the  ancient  phrase,  "A  man  hath  so  much 
religion  as  he  has  between  God  and  himself 
alone,  and  no  more.  What  shoAvs  soever  he 
makes  before  men."  Far  be  it  from  us  to  at- 
tempt to  determine  what  are  the  realities  of 
that  innermost  relation  of  the  soul  to  God. 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        61 

Sufficient  that  to  his  own  Master  each  man 
stands  or  falls. 

But  this  is  not  all  that  is  to  be  said.  There 
are  other  questions  that  are  important.  How 
shall  we  get  this  saving  faith?  How  shall  we 
know  it?  How  shall  we  impart  it  to  others? 
For  it  is  something  that  cannot  be  kept  to  one- 
self. One  test  of  the  reality  of  the  possession 
is  the  desire  to  communicate  it,  that  others 
may  share  in  the  blessing;  and  above  all  this, 
that  it  is  that  possession  which  increases  only 
as  it  is  shared  with  others  about  us. 

We  may  compare  ourselves  with  children 
before  a  well-spread  table.  There  are  all  kinds 
of  food  upon  it  in  abundance,  and  we  are 
hungry  and  need  the  food.  Those  seem  to  be 
the  two  aU-important  facts.  But  time  quickly 
shows  that  something  more  is  necessary.  There 
must  be  discrimination  between  what  is  food 
and  what  is  not,  and  what  is  proper  and  what 
undesirable  to  eat,  or  we  may  make  serious 
mistake;  and  when  that  is  discovered  it  is  too 
late  to  remedy  it.  We  should  know  now,  there- 
fore, what  are  the  essentials  of  a  true  faith, 
if  there  are  any ;  and  we  should  know  them  in 
a  way  to  judge  of  their  real  value  and  of  their 
inevitable  effect. 

Faith  that  is  to  point  a  man  to  God,  which 
is  the  one  fact  of  chief  importance  in  every 


62       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

man's  life,  cannot  be  a  matter  of  chance.  It 
is  not  a  gamble,  and  it  is  not  an  accident.  Nor 
can  it  be  the  possession,  or  gift,  only  of  certain 
individuals,  for  God  "made  of  one  every  nation 
of  man  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth," 
and  we  are  all  his  children,  made  in  his  image, 
brought  into  being  by  the  breath  of  his  Spirit. 
Faith,  like  health,  is  a  result  of  certain  definite 
forces.  It  is  intended  to  be  a  normal  and  uni- 
versal experience,  and  life  is  so  ordered  that 
if  men  live  a  right  life  they  shall  not  lack  it. 
But  it  is  to  be  understood  that  some  things 
produce  it  and  some  do  not. 

This  faith,  that  occupies  so  large  a  place  in 
our  thought,  is  the  product  of  Christianity, 
and  Christianity  is  an  historic  fact.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  discuss  Buddhism,  or  Brahman- 
ism,  or  Confucianism,  or  Mohammedanism. 
These  all  have  had  their  day,  and  have  failed. 
At  least  they  are  not  an  immediate  concern  of 
the  world  in  which  we  live  and  in  which  all 
our  best  conceptions  of  what  life  means  are 
involved. 

The  East  has  much  yet  to  give  to  the  world. 
It  cannot  be  otherwise  than  that  the  vast  ag- 
gregation of  humanity  wjiich  has  survived  with 
so  little  change  through  the  centuries,  wrapped 
up  in  its  own  thought,  working  out  its  own 
remarkable  career,  should  have,  in  God's  good 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        63 

time,  much  to  contribute  to  the  progress  of 
the  world.  The  attitude  of  the  Occident  to 
the  Orient  must  greatly  change  in  the  not  dis- 
tant future  and  take  on  a  respect  far  worthier 
both  of  its  head  and  its  heart  than  that  which 
to-day  controls  our  current  opinion.  But  the 
contribution  for  which  we  may  feel  that  the 
world  is  waiting  is  not  to  be  of  the  religions  of 
the  Orient.  The  hope  of  the  world  is  not  in 
those  faiths,  but  in  the  Christian  faith,  and 
the  Master  of  the  hearts  of  men  to-day,  and  the 
sustainer  of  hope  for  the  days  to  come,  is  not 
Mohammed,  or  Confucius,  or  Gautama  Bud- 
dha, but  is  Jesus  Christ. 

We,  then,  are  concerned  only  with  the  ques- 
tions of  the  Christian  faith  because  we  know 
it  as  the  best.  So  the  question  becomes, 
What  are  the  essentials  of  the  Christian  faith? 
and  the  answer  is  at  once.  Faith  in  the  truth 
of  Christianity.  Because  Christianity  is  an 
historic  faith  this  means  faith  in  the  facts  on 
which  Christianity  rests. 

It  is  inconceivable  that  this  great  historic 
force  in  the  world,  which  we  know  as  Chris- 
tianity, should  rest  on  myths  or  dreams  or  mis- 
conceptions. Is  the  real  business  of  life  in  any 
department  carried  forward  through  the  years 
on  such  things;  and  is  there  any  business  of 
life  which  is  now  or  for  two  thousand  years 


64       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

has  been  comparable  to  Christianity?  We 
have  lately  had  the  great  Hudson-Fulton  Cen- 
tennial. Is  it  conceivable  that  if  Hendrik 
Hudson  and  Kobert  Fulton  were  not  real 
personages,  that  Centennial  could  have  oc- 
curred? New  York  is  here,  in  any  case,  you 
may  well  say.  Somebody  certainly  would  have 
discovered  our  great  river  and  the  beautiful 
harbor;  and  the  providence  of  God  makes  it 
inevitable  that  such  exceptional  privileges  and 
opportunities  for  human  life  would  in  time 
be  taken  advantage  of,  and  the  great  city 
would  appear  lying  between  the  two  rivers; 
but  would  there  have  been  any  Hudson-Fulton 
Centennial?  Imagine  it  for  Diedrich  Knicker- 
bocker! The  thought  is  preposterous.  The 
great  forces  of  life  rest  on  facts,  not  on  dreams. 
Life,  at  least,  is  a  reality. 

Primarily,  then,  the  Christian  religion  is  the 
religion  of  God  as  made  known  through  Jesus 
Christ.  To  the  Christian,  Jesus  Christ  must 
be  a  true  historic  personality.  He  lived  at  a 
certain  time ;  he  was  himself  and  not  another ; 
and  he  did  and  said  certain  things;  all  of 
which  stand  in  essential  relation  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  Men  may  conceive  a  different  story; 
and  men  of  all  grades  of  intelligence  have 
busied  themselves  with  describing  a  form  of 
religion  to  serve  their  purpose,  and  in  their 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        65 

view  to  be  an  improvement  on  the  Christian 
religion,  while  omitting  more  or  less  of  the 
Christian  story,  or  dispensing  with  it  alto- 
gether. This  is  any  man's  privilege,  and  he 
may  justly  call  it  a  religion;  but  it  is  not  the 
Christian  religion,  whatever  other  name  may 
properly  be  given  to  it. 

Furthermore,  we  can  know  Jesus  Christ 
only  through  the  Christian  story.  God  may 
reveal  himself  directly  to  any  man,  and  we 
know  that  God  does  so  through  every  variety 
of  human  experience.  Temptation,  and  sor- 
row, and  sickness,  and  loss,  and  sometimes 
sheer  loneliness  or  weariness  of  life,  and  some- 
times fullness  of  blessings,  serve  to  open  a 
man's  heart  and  enable  him  to  hear  the  voice 
of  God.  God  has  not  left  himself  without  wit- 
ness, and  can  find  ways  of  access  to  the  human 
soul  that  lie  far  beyond  our  ken.  But  when 
God  has  found  such  access,  and  a  heart  that 
has  been  closed  to  him  is  softened  and  a  new 
life  has  begun ;  when  to  that  soul  is  presented 
the  story  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  at  once  recognizes 
him  as  the  revealer  of  the  Father,  in  a  larger 
and  fuller  and  more  abiding  w^ay  than  hitherto 
it  had  known.  He  becomes  at  once  the  Guide 
and  Master,  the  Teacher  and  the  Sanctifier 
of  that  soul,  and  the  more  completely  it  sur- 
renders itself  to  the  inspiration  of  God,  the 


66      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

more  completely  is  it  satisfied  with  a  personal 
surrender  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Paul  stands  in  the  New  Testament  story  as 
the  vivid  illustration  of  this  process.  An 
enemy  of  Jesus  Christ,  bitter  in  his  antagonism, 
he  suddenly  receives  a  communication  from 
God.  In  what  form  and  by  what  channel  is 
of  no  consequence.  It  is  sufficient  that  he 
found  himself  arrested  in  his  course.  The 
"still  small  voice"  which  through  the  ages  has 
from  time  to  time  spoken  to  men  who  were 
ready  to  hear  was  heard  in  his  inmost  soul. 
He  found  himself  stopped  in  his  career  and 
summoned  to  a  new  and  wholly  different  life. 
Immediately  we  see  him  turning  for  instruc- 
tion to  those  who  could  tell. him  about  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  as  the  story  of  Christ  was  opened 
to  him  and  the  person  of  Christ  made  real  he 
moved  out  upon  that  new  career  which  has 
made  him  the  greatest  of  the  Christian  dis- 
ciples. 

This,  then,  becomes  an  abiding  and  uni- 
versal test  of  the  Christian  faith  as  an  actual 
possession  in  any  man's  heart.  He  who  has 
it  approves  its  reality  and  is  confirmed  both 
in  the  peace  and  in  the  grace  which  it  bestows 
by  the  completeness  of  his  union  in  spirit  and 
in  life  with  Jesus  Christ. 

What,  then,   is  essential  to  the  Christian 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        67 

faith?  We  speak  now  only  of  those  things 
about  which  there  can  be  no  dispute.  Matters 
which  are  a  subject  of  difference  of  opinion, 
and  concerning  which  men  must  necessarily 
be  left  to  judge  for  themselves  when  the  facts 
have  properly  been  placed  before  them,  must 
be  reserved  to  another  chapter.  For  the  pres- 
ent it  suffices  to  concern  ourselves  with  what 
is  beyond  question. 

It  is  unmistakably  essential  to  the  Christian 
faith  that  a  man  believe  in  the  validity  of 
Christianity  as  exhibited  in  the  world  to-day. 
Men  are  not  concerned  with  dead  things,  or 
even  with  those  that  are  dying;  and  unless 
a  man  recognizes  that  Christianity  is  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other,  that  it  has  a  vital  force 
and  is  a  moving  power  in  the  world  in  which 
we  live,  he  cannot  think  it  worthy  of  his  con- 
sideration, and  he  certainly  is  not  in  the  way 
of  possessing  what  may  be  called  a  Christian 
faith. 

The  evidences  of  this  validity  are  not  far 
to  seek.  Christianity  can  be  seen  actually 
changing  the  lives  of  men,  and  that  not  in  one 
condition  of  life  or  another,  but  in  all  lands 
and  with  all  classes  of  people.  Everywhere  it 
inspires  and  supports  goodness.  And  the  more 
completely  men  surrender  themselves  to  the 
Christian  faith,  the  more  completely  do  their 


68       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

lives  give  evidence  of  what  the  world  is  every- 
where ready  to  recognize  as  the  true  Chris- 
tian life,  a  life  of  purity  and  honesty  and  sim- 
plicity and  self-denial.  Only  where  men  bear 
his  name  lightly  is  it  found  in  other  forms;  and 
then  the  accusation  lies  not  against  Chris- 
tianity, but  against  the  men  who  are  insincere 
in  their  profession. 

Furthermore,  it  makes  God  known ;  it  brings 
God  to  men  and  men  to  God  actually.  For 
where  Christianity  controls  the  lives  of  men, 
that  control  appears  in  a  well-ordered  life,  in 
comfort,  in  peace,  in  a  true  humanity  and 
brotherhood,  and  in  a  progress  definite,  hope- 
ful, and  established,  such  as  is  not  elsewhere 
to  be  seen. 

Moreover,  it  helps  on  all  that  is  best  in  men 
and  in  life.  After  all  the  centuries  in  which 
civilization  again  and  again  has  appeared  only 
to  be  destroyed,  the  world  to-day  finds  its  hope 
centered  in  Christianity.  The  deliverance  of 
the  oppressed,  the  uplifting  of  the  degraded, 
the  inspiring  of  the  ignorant,  the  care  of  the 
sick  and  the  helpless,  the  overcoming  of  the 
force  of  evil,  whether  in  government  or  in  the 
hearts  of  men — in  short,  the  progress  of  the 
world  in  all  that  is  best  for  humanity  as  a 
whole  or  for  the  individual — rests  on  Chris- 
tianity.    This  has  been  its  work  in  the  past. 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        69 

even  in  the  face  of  all  the  obstacles  which  have 
been  deeply  established  in  human  history,  with 
its  stories  of  aggression,  its  antagonism  of 
race  and  of  class,  its  insatiable  greed  of  gain, 
its  pestilences  and  its  famines,  its  ambitions 
and  its  vices.  As  Christianity  spreads  its  in- 
fluence and  strengthens  its  control  the  hope  of 
the  world  grows  more  assured.  We  believe 
that  a  better  day  is  coming  and  that  the  world 
is  indeed  advancing  in  proportion  as  our  faith 
in  Christ  is  established. 

And  this  force  is  by  no  means  exhausted.  Its 
gospel  is  as  efficient  for  any  man,  anywhere, 
and  for  every  people  under  whatever  condi- 
tions, as  it  ever  was. 

This,  then,  is  what  Christianity  is  in  the 
world  to-day;  and,  because  it  is  this,  belief  in 
its  validity  as  a  life-giving  force  given  from 
God  to  men  may  properly  be  regarded  as 
starting  with  the  acceptance  of  this  fact. 
Actually  it  becomes  a  personal  appeal  to  us 
only  as  we  individually  become  cognizant  of  it 
in  some  man  in  whom  we  see  it  as  the  regener- 
ating force  in  his  life.  We  are  won  to  Christ 
and  to  Christianity  only  as  we  are  persuaded 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  ruler  in  the  heart  of 
our  friend,  and  as  the  Christianity  which  is 
presented  to  us  for  our  acceptance  is  revealed 
in  the  life  of  him  who  standing  before  us  bears 


70      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

the  Christian  name.  No  man  can  be  persuaded 
of  any  faith  which  is  not  so  embodied.  "By 
their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them"  is  the  abiding 
principle;  and  the  challenge  of  Christianity 
is  based  on  the  validity  of  the  Christian  faith 
as  witnessed  in  the  spirits  and  the  lives  of  those 
who  bear  the  Christian  name.  If  that  should 
cease  to  be  genuine  and  commanding  there 
would  be  no  Christian  faith  in  the  world.  Be- 
cause there  is  in  all  lands  such  a  multitude  of 
humble,  faithful,  earnest,  and  genuine  follow- 
ers of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  acceptance 
of  that  testimony  to  the  reality  of  his  religion 
is  the  initial  step  for  the  man  who  would  be- 
lieve to-day. 

In  the  second  place,  an  essential  of  the 
Christian  faith  is  the  belief  in  the  substantial 
accuracy  of  the  historic  documents  on  which 
Christianity  rests,  and  through  which  it  has 
been  promulgated;  that  is,  the  Scriptures  of 
the  New  Testament.  These  documents  are  to 
be  tested  and  judged  as  any  other  historic  docu- 
ments are;  they  have  always  been  so  tested, 
and  they  are  so  tested  to-day — more  thor- 
oughly, indeed,  than  ever  before.  There  always 
have  been  questions  raised  as  to  some  of  these 
documents,  the  Epistle  of  James,  of  Second 
Peter,  and  the  Kevelation,  for  example.  And 
all  at  any  time  may  be  exposed  to  such  ques- 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        71 

tioning.  But  Christianity  to-day  rests  on  their 
substantial  historic  accuracy. 

This  means  that  those  who  caH  themselves 
Christians,  and  who  feel  charged  with  the  duty 
and  privilege  of  presenting  the  faith  which 
they  hold  to  others,  have  a  right  to  believe  that 
the  story  of  the  beginnings  of  that  faith,  and 
of  the  person  and  work  of  Him  who  is  in  him- 
self the  center  and  the  life  of  the  faith,  and 
the  interpretations  of  his  life  and  work  as 
given  by  those  who  were  his  immediate  follow- 
ers, which  have  been  cherished  by  the  Church 
from  the  beginning,  are  so  far  genuine  and  ac- 
curate that  they  may  be  accepted  as  a  sufficient 
authority  for  the  historic  facts  on  which  their 
personal  faith  rests. 

They  have  tested  these  teachings  in  their  in- 
dividual lives,  and  have  found  that  in  propor- 
tion as  they  have  heeded  them  the  reality  of 
their  understanding  of  Jesus  Christ,  their 
sense  of  his  living  presence,  and  their  access 
to  God  have  strengthened  and  become  assured. 
Therefore  we  are  justified  in  saying  that  an 
acceptance  of  the  historic  documents  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  presenting  with  substantial  accu- 
racy the  truths  of  Christianity,  is  essential  to 
an  acceptance  of  the  Christian  faith. 

It  is  not  sufficient  to  spiritualize  the  Chris- 
tian story,  saying,  as  some  do,  that  one  need 


72      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

pay  no  attention  to  the  narrative,  provided 
he  has  in  his  heart  a  spiritual  apprehension 
of  God  or  of  the  truth  of  religion.  A  man  may 
have  that  and  yet  not  be  justified  in  calling 
himself  a  Christian,  for  the  reasons  we  have 
given. 

It  is  not  enough  for  a  man  to  say,  "I  accept 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  and  to  think,  be- 
cause of  that,  he  is  a  follower  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
for  Jesus  Christ  was  not  simply  a  teacher  or 
a  prophet.  He  did  not  come  expounding  a 
principle  or  promulgating  a  method  of  life. 
In  that  case  the  principle  and  the  method  re- 
main and  have  all  the  value  that  may  be  in- 
herent in  them,  regardless  of  the  source  from 
which  they  came,  or  the  person  who  promul- 
gated them.  The  command  of  Christ  was  not, 
"Accept  my  teaching,"  or,  "Follow  my 
method" ;  but,  "Accept  me,"  and,  "Follow  me" ; 
and  only  as  men  do  that  are  they  worthy  to  be 
called  his  disciples. 

Therefore,  the  third  essential  of  Christianity 
of  which  we  may  speak  is  to  believe  in  Jesus 
Christ  himself,  as  he  is  presented  in  the  New 
Testament.  For  the  person  and  the  work  of 
Christ  are  the  core  of  Christianity;  and  the 
one  question  to  the  would-be  believer  is,  Does 
his  faith  hold  to  him,  or  does  it  not?  Before 
all  else  a  Christian  is  a  man  who  knows  Jesus 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        73 

Christ,  one  to  whom  he  is  a  reality,  a  personal 
friend,  a  helper,  a  Saviour,  one  to  be  loved 
and  longed  for,  one  to  serve  now  with  joy,  and 
to  be  looked  for  in  the  other  life  as  the  supreme 
reward.  The  Christian  is  before  all  else  a  man 
who  has  given  himself  to  Christ.  He  accepts 
him  as  he  is  accepted  by  him.  He  lives  not 
for  himself ;  but  Christ  Jesus  lives  in  him.  To 
that  man  life  is  a  service  of  Christ,  and  death 
is  but  the  drawing  back  of  the  curtain  which 
separates  a  sinful  man  from  the  Holy  God 
whom  he  has  learned  to  know  and  to  love 
through  the  revelation  of  him  that  has  been 
made  in  the  Saviour  who  sought  him  and 
found  him  and  gave  his  life  to  redeem  him. 
These  are  indisputable  essentials  of  a  Chris- 
tian faith.  There  may  be  religion  without 
them,  but  certainly  not  the  Christian  religion. 


VII 

THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
FAITH.— II 

"For  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  which  also 
I  received:  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to 
the  scriptures;  and  that  he  was  buried;  and  that  he 
hath  been  raised  on  the  third  day  according  to  the  scrip- 
tures."— 1  COBINTHIANS  15.   3,  4. 

To  know  the  essentials  of  the  Christian 
faith  we  must  first  know  what  is  the  Christian 
faith.  We  come,  then,  from  general  considera- 
tions to  the  specific  facts. 

Here  is  the  earliest  form  in  which  that  faith 
was  announced.  It  is  indisputably  authentic, 
for  this  Corinthian  letter  of  the  apostle  Paul  is 
one  of  the  four  writings  of  the  New  Testament 
which  have  never  been  seriously  questioned. 
It  antedates  even  the  Gospels.  Harnack  gives 
its  probable  date  as  the  year  52  or  53 ;  that  is, 
within  about  twenty  years  of  the  death  of  our 
Lord.  It  was  written  without  doubt  from 
Ephesus,  to  which  the  apostle  had  come  after 
two  years  of  patient  work  in  the  great  city 
of  Corinth,  where  he  had  lived  supporting  him- 
self at  his  trade  of  a  tentmaker,  while  he  gath- 

74 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        75 

ered  a  little  group  of  followers,  both  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  and  formed  there  a  Christian  church. 
He  crossed  to  Ephesus,  only  to  learn  soon  after 
that  dissensions  had  broken  out  in  Corinth. 
It  perhaps  was  not  to  be  wondered  at.  The 
Christian  community  was  too  new  and  made 
up  of  too  diverse  elements  thoroughly  to  fuse, 
even  under  the  passion  of  the  new  love  in  their 
hearts. 

But  PauPs  grief  was  none  the  less  keen,  and 
he  writes  to  them  this  letter,  in  which,  in  chap- 
ter after  chapter,  he  rebukes  and  argues  and 
pleads  with  them  that  he  may  reestablish  them 
promptly  in  that  imitation  of  Christ  and 
obedience  to  Christ  in  which  he  had  found  his 
own  new  life.  He  cares  little  that  they  ques- 
tion his  personal  authority,  but  it  broke  his 
heart  to  think  that  they  were,  under  any  ex- 
cuse, departing  from  following  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  one  source  of  their  life,  and  their  one 
sufficient  authority.  He  had  come  to  them 
solely  as  the  messenger  of  Jesus  Christ,  bear- 
ing his  gospel,  and  he  hastens  now  to  declare 
what  that  gospel  was  and  what  is  the  real 
ground  of  his  own  authority.  It  is  funda- 
mental both  to  his  work  and  to  their  faith,  and 
he  would  have  no  misunderstanding  about  it. 
There  has  been  no  change  in  his  preaching. 
He  says :  "I  make  known  unto  you,  brethren, 


76       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

the  gospel  which  I  preached  unto  you,  which 
also  ye  received,  wherein  also  ye  stand,  by 
which  also  ye  are  saved,  if  ye  hold  fast  the 
word  which  I  preached  unto  you,  except  ye 
believed  in  vain."  Then  he  proceeds  in  the 
words  of  the  text,  in  which  he  recounts  the 
simple  facts  concerning  Jesus  Christ  as  one 
who  came  and  died  for  our  sins  according  to 
the  scriptures,  and  rose  again,  as  was  abun- 
dantly witnessed. 

This,  then,  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose.  We 
recall  the  phrase  from  the  French,  "It  is  not 
possible  to  love  and  hope  for  that  which  one 
does  not  believe" ;  and  we  are  justified  in  say- 
ing that  the  essentials  of  the  Christian  faith 
are  obviously  belief  in  Jesus  Christ,  as  Paul 
knew  him;  that  is,  as  he  is  presented  in  the 
Scriptures. 

Beyond  question  men  may  find  God  other- 
wise, as  they  have  done  in  the  past.  But  any 
man  having  done  so  will  inevitably  be  himself 
found  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  union  of  the  soul 
that  in  any  way  finds  God,  with  Jesus  Christ, 
when  the  two  are  brought  together,  is  imme- 
diate; and  the  Christian  faith  is  the  faith  of 
those  who  anywhere  or  at  any  time,  having 
found  God,  find  him  most  truly  and  most  per- 
fectly presented  in  his  Son,  our  Lord.  And 
having  so  found  him  themselves,  they  take  the 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        77 

story  of  Christ,  or,  as  we  call  it,  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  as  the  message  which  God  has  given 
them  by  which  to  lead  others  to  the  same 
blessed  experience. 

With  this  as  the  central  and  comprehensive 
truth  we  may  now  properly  examine  it,  and 
ask  what  may  be  regarded  as  the  essentials  of 
this  faith. 

Manifestly  the  first  of  these  is  the  belief  that 
Jesus  was  a  real  person.  In  the  very  earliest 
days  of  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  this  was 
questioned.  It  was  quite  in  the  line  of  the 
thought  and  temper  of  the  times  to  imagine 
that  any  new  doctrine  or  movement  of  men 
might  be  attributed  to  some  ghostly  or  spirit- 
ual appearance,  and  the  Church  had  the  early 
duty  of  establishing  its  contention  that  this 
assumption  had  no  place  in  its  message  or  in 
its  history.  We  are  so  much  further  away  from 
those  primitive  days  that  it  is  still  easier  to 
question  the  historic  truth,  and  there  are 
those,  from  time  to  time,  who  advance  such 
a  suggestion. 

But  the  answer  is  twofold.  Christianity 
has  to  be  accounted  for;  and  the  figure  in  the 
gospel  is  its  own  evidence.  Christianity  is 
the  great  fact  in  the  world's  history  to-day, 
and  is  as  vital  as  it  ever  was.  It  cannot  be 
ignored;   and    it   is    inconceivable   that    this 


78       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

great  system,  so  fuU  of  an  energy  which  shows 
no  suggestion  of  either  diminished  force  or 
impaired  effectiveness,  should  rest  upon  a  lie, 
or  should  have  its  spring  and  origin  in  a  tra- 
dition or  a  ghostly  appearance.  Furthermore, 
the  picture  of  Jesus  given  to  us  in  the  gospel 
is  one  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  create 
if  it  did  not  exist.  Saintliness  is  the  most 
difficult  of  all  types  of  character  to  depict; 
and  the  higher  the  type  of  sainthood  the  more 
shadowy  and  impersonal  it  inevitably  be- 
comes. John  Stuart  Mill's  question  still 
stands:  "Who  among  the  disciples  of  Jesus, 
or  among  their  proselytes,  was  capable  of  in- 
venting these  sayings  ascribed  to  Jesus,  or 
of  imagining  the  life  and  character  revealed 
in  the  Gospels?  Certainly  not  the  fishermen 
of  Galilee,  and  certainly  not  Saint  Paul."  The 
reality  of  that  Person  and  that  character  may 
therefore  properly  be  regarded  as  an  essential 
fact  of  the  Christian  faith. 

Again,  as  such  a  real  personage  Jesus  con- 
stitutes not  a  revelation  but  the  revelation  of 
God.  This  means  that  Jesus  stands  by  him- 
self. He  is  not  a  product  of  Judaism,  nor  of 
his  time,  nor  of  evolution.  He  was  born  of 
'Jewish  parentage  in  Palestine  and  at  a  defi- 
nite date,  but  nothing  is  more  indisputable 
than  that  he  was  not  a  Jew  in  any  immediate 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        79 

sense;  nor  did  he  belong  to  any  one  time,  or 
period,  or  race.  In  two  thousand  years  the 
world  has  greatly  changed,  and  men's  knowl- 
edge and  range  of  thought  and  apparatus  of 
criticism  have  all  become  extensive  and  defi- 
nite. But  it  never  was  more  certain  than  it 
is  to-day  that  Jesus  Christ  is  for  all  men  every- 
where. He  speaks  directly  to  the  human  heart, 
and  in  terms  which  are  as  truly  pertinent  to 
the  scholar  as  to  the  peasant,  to  the  Occident 
to  which  his  gospel  has  come  as  to  the  Orient 
to  which  he  historically  belongs. 

Nor  is  he  a  product  of  the  evolution  of  the 
natural  world.  His  physical  body  might  be 
such  a  product,  as  were  his  clothes.  That  we 
do  not  know,  and  that  we  cannot  conceive  to 
be  essential ;  but  he  himself  was  certainly  not 
such  a  product.  All  such  products  we  describe 
as  natural.  He  was  supernatural.  The  Chris- 
tian faith  maintains  that  he  came  into  this 
world  from  outside  the  world,  to  make  God 
known  to  men  living  here,  as  God  otherwise 
had  not  been  known  and  could  not  be  known. 

In  the  year  1872,  immediately  after  the  fall 
of  the  Second  Empire  in  France,  the  Protes- 
tant Synod,  which  had  been  suppressed  for 
more  than  two  hundred  years,  reassembled 
under  the  new  Republic.  Freedom  of  religion 
was  to  be  permitted,  and  the  scattered  French 


80       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

Protestants,  of  an  historic  and  noble  ancestry, 
felt  themselves  called  to  proclaim  their  ex- 
istence and  to  establish  their  Church  for  its 
proper  work  in  their  own  country.  It  was  at 
once  necessary  for  them  to  define  their  posi- 
tion, and  the  question  arose,  "What  consti- 
tutes the  Christian  faith?  Is  a  man  who  be- 
lieves in  God  a  Christian?''  Some  stood  for 
that — that  is,  for  a  deistic  Christianity,  hold- 
ing that  if  a  man  has  what  he  regards  as  a 
joyous  faith  in  God,  that  is  enough.  But  in- 
evitably the  question  was  put,  "Is  there  or  is 
there  not  a  supernatural  revelation  of  God? 
Yes  or  no.  Has  God  created,  loved,  and  saved 
us  by  his  Son?  If  so,  is  this  compatible  with 
its  contradictory?  If  Christianity  is  a  super- 
natural revelation  of  God,  it  is  not  a  product 
of  the  human  reason,  even  though  it  be  re- 
garded as  the  supreme  product.  There  are  no 
shades  or  degrees  there.  The  proposition  is 
either  wholly  true  or  wholly  false."  After  long 
debating  on  the  highest  possible  plane  and 
with  the  sole  purpose  of  making  it  clear  to 
the  world  what  Christianity  is,  this  affirma- 
tion was  accepted  and  defined  as  the  only 
Christian  position.  It  would  seem  that  this 
is  the  only  one  which  is  justifiable  to-day. 

Furthermore,  Jesus  appears  a  unique  per- 
sonality in  that  he  is  sinless.     Of  this,  of 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        81 

course,  it  is  impossible  for  history  to  give  an 
absolute  demonstration;  but  there  is  no  mis- 
take in  seeing  in  the  record  that  this  was  the 
impression  that  he  made  upon  all  who  came  in 
contact  with  him.  From  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  his  recorded  life  he  moves  always  on 
that  plane.  There  is  an  undeniable  but  definite 
and  real  gulf  between  him  and  his  most  inti- 
mate disciples.  The  more  intimate  he  is  with 
them,  and  the  longer  they  are  in  his  company, 
the  more  manifest  this  becomes;  until  in  the 
closing  hours,  especially  as  recorded  in  the 
conversations  in  the  Gospel  of  John,  and,  in 
all  the  Gospels  in  the  scenes  connected  with 
Gethsemane  and  Calvary,  a  whole  world  of 
existence  seems  to  lie  between  him  and  them. 
His  prayer  is,  "Father,  forgive  them!"  never 
once,  "Father,  forgive  meT'  In  him  prayer 
never  is  supplication,  but  always  communion. 
This  sinless  character  of  Jesus  has  never 
been  successfully  questioned.  Now  and  again 
someone  has  attempted  to  disparage  it  in  some 
particular,  but  such  criticism  has  never  se- 
cured even  a  respectful  hearing.  Instinctively 
the  world  has  recognized  that  there  is  some- 
thing irreverent,  if  not  sacrilegious,  in  it.  That 
character  stands  so  beautiful  in  its  perfection 
that  men  seem  to  feel  that  even  the  suggestion 
of  a  fleck  on  its  purity  or  a  flaw  in  its  perfect 


82       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

simplicity  would  be  an  irreparable  loss  of  that 
which  could  not  be  replaced  and  which  the 
world  long  since  learned  to  regard  as  its  chief- 
est  treasure.  Jesus  was  this  which  the  evan- 
gelists described  him  to  be,  and  which  the 
world  has  found  itself  ready  to  believe  that 
he  was,  or  he  was  inexplicable.  If  he  were 
not  this  his  words  are  absurd  and  arrogant. 
For  he  said,  "Come  unto  me,  and  live !"  "Fol- 
low me,  and  find  life !"  "Take  my  yoke  upon 
you,  and  enter  into  peace!"  If  he  were  not 
himself  sinless  he  cannot  save  any  man.  The 
world's  condition  would  be  hopeless,  and  the 
Christian  faith  would  have  already  encoun- 
tered its  inevitable  defeat. 

Furthermore,  Jesus  was  possessed  of  powers 
corresponding  to  his  nature  and  his  claims. 
His  spiritual  power  is  the  greatest  of  all.  Pro- 
fessor Bruce  said,  "A  sinless  Christ  is  as  great 
a  miracle  as  a  Christ  who  can  walk  on  the 
water."  Jesus  said,  "The  Father  has  life  in 
himself."  This  being  the  source  of  life  is  the 
nature  of  God.  He  then  added,  "The  Father 
hath  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself." 
In  so  saying  he  proclaimed  the  possession  of 
power  that  men  have  not. 

What  the  measure  of  that  power  was,  and 
what  were  the  conditions  within  which  it  was 
to  be  exercised,  we  cannot  determine.     It  is 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        83 

enough  that  coming  as  he  did,  tlie  revelation 
of  God,  he  claimed  and  exercised  powers  that 
pertained  to  that  relationship.  And  there  can 
be  no  reasonable  question,  other  than  such  as 
is  simply  historical,  as  to  what  powers  he  ex- 
ercised, and  what  he  did  not;  and  when  the 
historical  question  is  settled,  if  it  ever  should 
be,  there  would  still  remain  the  altogether  un- 
settled question  as  to  what  powers  he  might 
have  exercised  in  harmony  with  his  nature 
and  his  mission,  had  he  had  occasion  to  do  so. 
The  argument  from  the  natural  improbability 
of  the  appearance  of  any  person  on  this  earth 
possessed  of  such  power  fails  at  once  and  com- 
pletely before  the  evidence  w^e  have,  and  the 
facts  on  which  Christianity  rests,  that  Jesus 
Christ,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  and  by 
virtue  of  what  he  was,  possessed  powers  that 
were  appropriate  to  himself. 

P^urthermore,  his  death  was  voluntary  and 
sacrificial.  In  the  Christian  faith  the  death 
of  Jesus  Christ  occupies  a  central  place,  as 
declared  by  the  text.  That  that  death  was  both 
voluntary  and  sacrificial  is  the  burden  of  the 
whole  story.  Jesus  saw  it  coming  long  before 
he  surrendered  to  it ;  and  he  accepted  it  for  the 
sake  of  the  world.  His  earliest  message  was, 
"God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him 


84       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life."  And 
his  final  prayer  was,  "Father,  forgive  them; 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

This  sacrificial  death  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
central  truth  taken  up  by  his  disciples,  and 
ever  since  maintained  by  his  Church.  The 
historian  tells  us  that  it  was  the  sacrament  of 
the  Last  Supper,  the  whole  significance  of 
which  lies  in  its  relation  to  the  death  of  Jesus 
Christ,  that  through  the  early  centuries  held 
the  church  to  its  faith  and  made  its  life  both 
united  and  true  to  its  mission.  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge,  in  a  recent  address  in  Birmingham, 
said  that  in  the  course  of  the  evolutionary 
process  in  nature  there  came  a  time  when 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  arrived,  with  power 
of  choice.  Then  man  tripped  and  fell.  Whether 
that  be  called  a  fall  or  a  rise  will  differ  with 
the  point  of  view.  But  then,  "Christ  realizing 
that  men  were  blundering,  laid  aside  his  maj- 
esty, and  lived  on  our  planet  as  a  teacher." 
This  is  the  declaration  of  a  man  of  science.  It 
it  sufficient  as  witnessing  to  the  fact  that  there 
came  a  time  in  human  history  when  man 
needed  something  done  for  him  which  he  could 
not  do  for  himself.  Sir  Oliver  seems  to  think 
that  he  has  sufficiently  described  what  Jesus 
did  by  saying  that  he  came  as  a  teacher.  The 
Christian  Church  has  never  been  content  to 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        85 

say  that.  Its  message  is  that  he  came  as  a 
Saviour.  He  not  only  told  men  what  the  king- 
dom of  God  is,  but  he  made  it  possible  for 
them  to  enter  it.  He  did  that  without  which 
all  teaching  of  the  kingdom  would  have  been 
to  leave  the  Avorld  all  the  more  hopeless  in  its 
despair  before  the  picture  of  a  life  that  to  it 
had  become  no  longer  possible.  It  was  Jesus' 
sacrificial  death,  and  his  resurrection  follow- 
ing upon  it,  which  made  the  teachings  of  his 
word  and  the  morality  of  his  life  at  once  an 
inspiration  and  a  possibility.  This,  and  noth- 
ing short  of  this,  is  the  gospel.  The  Christian 
accepts  it,  and  rejoices  in  Jesus  Christ  as  his 
Saviour ;  and  he  turns  to  the  world  inviting  it 
to  accept  the  faith  which  rests  on  this  as  its 
immovable  foundation. 

Finally,  an  essential  of  the  Christian  faith 
is  the  belief  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  dead,  but 
is  living  to-day.  He  is  not  an  influence,  but 
a  Saviour;  not  a  memory,  but  a  friend,  one  to 
bring  us  to  God  and  to  eternal  life,  a  very 
present  help  in  every  time  of  need. 

Some  say  that  men  can  save  themselves  if 
they  would.  Some  say  the  sense  of  guilt  is  a 
superstition.  Some  say  remorse  is  a  morbid 
passion;  and  still  some  others,  that  divine 
intervention  is  inconceivable.  The  Christian 
replies  to  one  and  all :    "I  know  Jesus  Christ. 


86       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

He  has  helped  me  to  know  God  and  to  know 
myself.  He  has  sought  and  found  me,  and 
having  found  me  has  helped  me  to  find  myself, 
and  through  him  to  find  God.  And  now  he 
is  with  me  to  assure  my  pardon,  to  guide  my 
life,  to  strengthen  my  purpose,  and  to 
strengthen  me  in  the  effort  to  work  out  a 
growing  Christian  character,  until,  as  he  has 
promised,  I  shall  be  complete  in  his  likeness, 
and  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  This  is  my  gospel, 
that  Christ  is  my  Saviour.'' 

Forty  years  ago  Dr.  Dale,  in  his  presidential 
address  to  the  Congregational  Union  of  Eng- 
land, said:  "Here  is  the  real  issue.  Is  Chris- 
tendom to  believe  in  Christ  or  not?  It  is  a 
battle  in  Avhich  everything  is  to  be  lost  or  won. 
It  is  not  a  theory  of  ecclesiastical  policy  that 
is  in  danger;  it  is  not  a  theological  system,  it 
is  not  a  creed,  it  is  not  the  Old  Testament  or 
the  New,  but  the  claim  of  Christ  himself  to 
be  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Saviour  of  man- 
kind." 

I  think  we  are  justified  in  saying  that  the 
faith  of  Jesus  as  embracing  these  substantial 
truths  concerning  Jesus  is  one  of  the  essen- 
tials of  the  Christian  teaching.  It  is  to  be 
held  and  taught  by  those  who  regard  them- 
selves Christians.  It  should  be  the  substance 
of  the  appeal  to  those  who  are  not  Christians, 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        87 

and  we  may  well  believe  that  it  is  the  founda- 
tion of  the  standing  or  falling  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  the  truth  for  the  winning  of  men 
everywhere  to  God  and  to  life. 

Dr.  E.  H.  Sears,  the  Unitarian,  in  a  beau- 
tiful book  entitled  "The  Heart  of  Christ," 
writes  these  words :  "Those  who  acknowledge 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  supreme  authority  and 
guide,  and  enter  more  and  more  into  his  all- 
revealing  mind,  are  making  progress  toward 
the  harmonizing  truths  which  he  represents. 
It  is  not  that  one  sect  is  making  conquests  of 
the  others,  but  Jesus  Christ  is  making  con- 
quest of  us  all.'^ 


VIII 

THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
FAITH.— Ill 

"If  Christ  hath  not  heen  raised,  then  is  our  preaching 
vain,  your  faith  also  is  vain." — 1  Corinthians  15.  14. 

The  Christian  faith  is  based  on  a  miracle, 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  from  the  dead.  Back 
of  that  is  a  still  greater  miracle,  the  person 
and  work  of  Jesus  Christ  himself.  The  Chris- 
tian accepts  Jesus  as  Saviour  and  Lord.  To 
him  he  is  not  a  product  of  nature,  but  is  from 
above.  He  does  for  man  what  only  God  can 
do.  If  a  miracle  is  an  event  not  to  be  ac- 
counted for  in  nature,  Jesus  is  a  miracle,  and 
so  much  of  belief  in  miracles  is  an  essential 
of  the  Christian  faith. 

For  a  man  to  say,  "I  do  not  believe  in  any 
kind  of  a  miracle,"  is  to  set  himself  against 
Christianity;  not  necessarily  against  religion 
or  against  God,  but  against  that  particular 
form  of  religion  and  that  particular  presen- 
tation of  God  which  is  the  substance  of  Chris- 
tianity. He  may  present  a  scheme  of  religion 
which  he  labels  Christian.  It  may  rest  upon 
a  description  of  Jesus  that  is  harmonious  with 

88 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        89 

the  man's  own  conception  of  nature  and  of  God, 
but  it  is  not  the  Jesus  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  substitute  for  the 
historic  Christian  faith. 

To  deny  the  possibility  of  miracles,  and, 
therefore,  to  decline  to  consider  evidence  ad- 
duced in  support  of  them,  is  a  very  old  form 
of  attack  upon  Christianity.  But  with  the 
modern  advance  of  science  and  the  clearer 
thinking  which  has  come  to  prevail  in  the 
scientific  world,  no  less  than  in  the  general 
realm  of  culture,  it  may  now  be  truthfully 
said  that  it  is  unphilosophical  to  say  that 
miracles  are  impossible.  So  generally  is  this 
proposition  accepted  among  scholars  that  it 
may  be  declared  a  general  truth.  Men  differ 
now  only  as  to  the  nature  of  the  evidence  that 
is  necessary  to  prove  that  any  particular  event 
is  miraculous.  The  thinking  world  recognizes 
that  the  limitation  of  man's  knowledge  makes 
it  manifestly  impossible  for  him  to  say  that 
any  event  claimed  to  occur  in  the  natural 
world  lies  beyond  the  possibility  of  divine 
power.  Though  so  much  has  been  gained  in 
the  knowledge  of  nature,  the  effect  has  been  to 
widen  the  realm  of  the  unknown;  and  the 
ancient  doctrine  that  all  things  are  possible  to 
God  was  never  more  universally  accepted  and 
never  was  better  established,  than  it  is  to-day. 


90       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

The  question  whether  the  belief  in  miracles 
is  essential  in  the  Christian  faith  can  be  best 
answered  by  dividing  miracles  into  three 
classes:  the  miracle  of  the  Resurrection;  the 
miracle  of  the  Incarnation,  including  the  ques- 
tion of  the  Virgin  Birth;  and  the  group  of 
miracles  which  Jesus  is  recorded  as  having 
wrought. 

The  Church  holds,  and  always  has  held,  that 
on  the  third  day  after  the  crucifixion  Jesus 
reappeared  on  earth,  an  unimpaired  person- 
ality. For  the  Church  his  grave  has  always 
stood  with  an  open  door,  and  is  an  empty 
tomb.  That  empty  tomb  is  the  enduring  monu- 
ment of  his  final  and  complete  victory  over 
death.  Furthermore,  the  Church  holds  that 
in  this  lies  the  proof  of  Jesus's  real  nature. 
His  dominion  over  the  physical  world  is  so 
complete  that  all  questions  as  to  what  became 
of  his  material  body,  or  how,  to  use  PauPs 
term,  for  him  "the  terrestrial''  passed  into 
"the  celestial,"  are  as  unimportant  as  they  are 
insolvable.  They  belong  to  the  things  which 
are  not  revealed.  But  the  fact  of  that  transi- 
tion is  as  unquestioningly  accepted  by  the 
Church  as  is  the  reality  of  that  life  into  which 
the  faith  of  Jesus  introduces  the  believer. 

The  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  also  to  the 
Church  the  proof  of  the  resurrection  of  the  be- 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        91 

liever  through  him.  He  is  henceforth  the  Lord 
of  life  for  this  world  and  for  the  next.  This 
the  early  Church  held  as  amply  proved.  Paul 
recounts  in  this  fifteenth  chapter  of  First  Co- 
rinthians the  outline  of  the  evidence  which  he 
made  the  historic  basis  of  his  message.  Jesus 
had  appeared  after  his  death  to  Cephas,  then 
to  the  twelve,  then  to  above  five  hundred  breth- 
ren at  once,  then  to  James,  then  to  all  the 
apostles,  and,  last  of  all,  to  him  also.  The 
Church  accepted  the  evidence,  not  simply  be- 
cause it  was  so  abundant  and  so  accessible 
on  the  lips  of  those  who  were  still  living,  but 
perhaps  much  more  because  of  the  reality  of 
the  new  life  which  was  witnessed  in  every 
convert.  It  was  the  reality  of  that  new  life 
wrought  in  the  hearts  and  conduct  of  his  fol- 
lowers that  became  to  the  world  the  appeal 
and  the  proof  of  the  new  faith.  The  ever- 
present  testimony  in  the  existing  monuments 
of  the  early  Christian  world  is  of  this  faith  in 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  "Because  he 
lives,  we  shall  live  also,"  was  their  triumphant 
cry.  The  most  notable  critic  of  the  Christian 
faith  in  the  last  century  said,  "It  was  the  be- 
lief in  the  resurrection  that  gave  permanence 
and  authority  to  the  precepts  of  Jesus ;  other- 
wise they  would  have  been  blown  away  and 
scattered  like  leaves  before  the  wind."    Recog- 


92      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

nizing  this,  and  too  honest  to  deny  it,  Ferdi- 
nand Baur,  because  he  held  that  a  miracle  is 
impossible,  said,  "The  problem  of  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ  must  be  regarded  as  insolv- 
able."  The  Christian  believer  crowds  the  in- 
disputable fact  back  upon  the  preconceived 
theory  as  to  miracle,  and  confidently  expects 
the  theory  to  be  abandoned. 

In  the  language  of  Dean  Church:  "The 
Christian  Church  is  founded  on  a  definite  his- 
toric fact,  that  Jesus  Christ  who  was  crucified 
rose  from  the  dead.  A  so-called  Christianity, 
ignoring  and  playing  with  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion, and  using  the  Bible  as  a  sort  of  Homer, 
may  satisfy  a  class  of  clever  and  cultivated 
persons.  But  it  is  well  in  so  serious  a  matter 
not  to  confuse  things.  This  new  religion  may 
borrow  from  Christianity  as  it  may  borrow 
from  Plato,  or  from  Buddhism,  or  Confucius, 
or  even  Islam.  But  it  is  not  Christianity.  A 
Christianity  which  tells  us  to  think  of  Christ 
doing  good,  but  to  forget  and  put  out  of  sight 
Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  is  not  true  to  life. 
It  is  as  delusive  to  the  conscience  and  the  soul 
as  it  is  illogical  to  reason." 

As  to  the  Incarnation,  the  Christian  Church 
holds  that  Jesus  Christ  came  into  our  life 
from  without,  but  in  a  real  sense  became  man. 
He  bears  our  sins  and  carries  our  sorrows,  be- 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        93 

cause  he  is  one  with  us.  It  has  speculated 
much  and  long  over  the  question  of  the  union 
of  the  divine  and  the  human ;  but  it  has  reached 
no  conclusion,  and,  perhaps  it  may  be  said, 
has  gained  no  light.  That  is  another  of  the 
hidden  things  of  God.  The  questioning  mind 
of  man  may  always  stand  before  it  with  rev- 
erent inquiry.  But  the  unanswered  question 
concerning  the  method  does  not  impinge  upon 
or  disturb  the  acceptance  of  the  fact  upon 
which  so  much  that  is  most  real  in  the  Chris- 
tian faith  and  the  Christian  life  depends.  We 
certainly  are  justified  in  saying  that  the  belief 
in  the  incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ  is  essential 
to  the  Christian  faith. 

It  will  at  once  be  asked,  How  will  this  affect 
the  question  of  the  Virgin  Birth?  There  are 
those  who  reject  that  on  two  grounds:  first, 
because  they  think  that  then  Jesus  would  not 
be  truly  man;  and,  second,  in  their  view  the 
record  is  not  sufficiently  authentic.  To  this 
we  may  make  reply  that  we  cannot  say  that 
the  doctrine  is  essential,  because  if  the  record 
were  discredited,  or,  indeed,  entirely  removed 
from  the  gospel  story,  it  would  not  follow 
that  the  foundations  of  the  Christian  faith 
were  disturbed,  or  that  the  Church  would  not 
go  on  its  way  unaffected.  But  the  Church  ac- 
cepts the  narrative  as  it  stands  and  holds  to 


94       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

its  faith  in  the  historic  event  undisturbed,  for 
the  following  reasons :  It  is  entirely  harmoni- 
ous with  the  nature  of  Jesus  Christ.  That 
nature  is  so  exceptional  that  Jesus's  entrance 
into  our  life  might  well  be  attended  with  cir- 
cumstances or  conducted  in  a  way  that  would 
be  unique,  and  the  declaration  of  the  immedi- 
ate agency  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  certainly 
not  inharmonious,  but,  on  the  contrary,  is 
most  congruous  with  Avhat  we  know  and  re- 
joice to  believe  as  to  the  divinity  of  our  Lord. 
Furthermore,  the  Church  cannot  fail  to  note 
that  repudiation  of  the  story  is  largely  limited 
to  those  who  repudiate  what  the  Church  be- 
lieves as  to  the  real  nature  of  the  Person  of 
Christ.  Denial  of  the  Virgin  Birth  is  most 
often  connected  with  denial  of  the  virgin  life 
of  our  Lord.  Moreover,  such  denial  leads  to 
an  intolerable  suggestion,  that  of  Professor 
Cheyne  in  the  "Encyclopaedia  Biblica,"  where 
he  says,  "The  name  of  the  father  of  Jesus  is, 
to  say  the  least,  extremely  uncertain."  The 
bare  suggestion  this  implies  is  shocking. 
Finally,  the  Church  recognizes  that  the  narra- 
tives of  the  Immaculate  Conception  are  an 
undisputed  section  of  the  Gospels,  and  that 
there  is  nothing  in  the  narrative  that  is  in- 
harmonious with  the  description  of  Jesus  that 
is  everywhere  found  in  the  Epistles.    The  com- 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        95 

pleteness  of  the  recognition  of  his  divine  na- 
ture may  well  be  regarded  as  intimately  con- 
nected in  the  minds  of  the  writers  with  their 
faith  in  his  supernatural  birth. 

We  come,  then,  to  the  group  of  miracles 
which  Jesus  is  recorded  as  having  wrought. 
No  one  of  them,  certainly,  is  essential  to  the 
Christian  faith;  that  is,  the  narrative  of  our 
Lord's  earthly  life  and  teaching  would  remain 
substantially  unchanged  if  any  one  of  them 
were  not  there.  The  opening  of  the  eyes  of  the 
blind,  the  healing  of  the  sick,,  the  feeding  of 
the  multitude,  the  calling  to  life  of  the  widow^s 
son,  or  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  might  conceiv- 
ably be  removed  from  the  record,  and,  great 
as  would  be  the  loss,  the  story  would  not  be 
seriously  injured,  nor  the  Christian  faith 
affected.  In  each  instance  it  may  be  admitted 
that  faith  in  the  individual  event  properly  de- 
pends upon  the  evidence  of  its  historic  charac- 
ter. The  Christian  faith  certainly  does  not 
rest  upon  any  one  of  these  recorded  miracles. 

But  that  is  not  the  real  question.  We  are 
reminded  of  the  famous  horsetail  argument 
of  the  old  rhetoricians :  "This  single  hair  does 
not  make  the  tail ;  I  pull  it  out.  This  one  does 
not  make  the  tail ;  I  pull  that  out.  I  continue 
with  each  separate  hair.  At  last,  where  is 
the  tail?"    We  may  dispense  with  individual 


96      BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

miracles,  but  the  miracles  as  a  whole  are 
wrought  into  the  web  of  the  gospel,  and  they 
cannot  be  removed  from  it  without  the  de- 
struction of  the  picture  of  Christ,  and  the  his- 
toric foundations  of  the  gospel.  The  Church 
believes  in  the  miracles  that  Jesus  wrought 
because  it  believes  that  he  was  able  to  work 
them;  because  they  were  natural  to  him  and 
suitable  to  the  task  he  had  to  perform ;  because 
they  accomplished  his  purpose,  challenging 
the  attention  of  the  world  which  he  needed 
and  which  he  could  not  otherwise  secure;  be- 
cause they  attested  that  revelation  which  he 
was  in  himself,  and  which  he  delivered  in  his 
words,  and  which  furthermore  disclosed  itself 
in  his  wonderful  deeds;  because  his  story 
would  be  more  strange  without  them  than  it 
is  with  them;  for  such  a  person  to  come  into 
our  life  for  the  purpose  for  which  he  came, 
and  not  to  manifest  powers  above  and  outside 
of  those  which  men  recognize  as  pertaining  to 
the  natural  world,  would  be  far  stranger  than 
for  him  to  disclose  the  powers  which  Jesus 
so  naturally,  so  quietly,  and  so  effectively 
used.  We  agree  with  Dr.  Dale:  "That  Christ 
should  have  worked  miracles  does  not  surprise 
me.  It  would  have  surprised  me  if  he  had 
not."i 


'Living  Christ  and  Gospels,  p.  102. 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        97 

We  say  with  truth:  "We  do  not  want  the 
miracles  which  saints  have  wrought,  but  the 
miracle  through  which  the  saint  himself  is 
made/'  Because  Jesus  wrought  this  great 
miracle,  and  lives  to  work  it  to-day  in  the  heart 
of  every  penitent  coming  to  him  seeking  grace 
that  he  may  become  a  saint,  we  are  ready  to 
believe  that  he  not  only  has  the  power  to  do 
this,  but  that  also,  on  occasion,  he  did  exercise, 
and  can  again  exercise,  all  power  that  may  be 
related  to  his  beneficent  purpose. 

Having  said  this,  we  say  with  John  Calvin, 
"So  long  as  the  central  truths  of  Christianity 
are  held  intact,  differences  of  opinion  are  to 
be  allowed."  We  would  not  lay  unnecessary 
burdens  upon  any  man's  faith,  but  we  seek  to 
open  the  way  and  set  up  the  landmarks  which 
will  enable  the  humblest  soul  to  come  straight 
to  his  Lord,  and,  having  come,  to  know  what 
the  Christian  faith  is,  and  how  to  make  it 
known  to  others. 

We  have  only  to  ask,  then,  What  are  the 
great  central  truths? 

The  first  is  that  we  live  in  a  world  of  mys- 
tery. This  was  never  so  true  and  so  nobly 
impressive  as  it  is  to-day.  Science  has  opened 
vast  realms  of  new  knowledge,  but  in  every 
instance  it  has  been  to  disclose  a  vaster  mys- 
tery lying  beyond.    The  conception  of  the  in- 


98       BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

finite  and  of  the  infinitesimal,  of  an  all-em- 
bracing ether,  the  idea  of  an  all-prevailing 
unity,  of  the  limitless  areas  of  time  and  space, 
of  the  indestructibility  of  all  existence,  of 
the  ceaseless  change  of  life  and  death,  of  con- 
struction and  destruction  in  the  universe, 
create  a  sense  of  mystery  and  of  awe  hitherto 
unknown,  but  are  now  forced  upon  us  with  a 
new  and  commanding  significance  because 
they  are  now  scientific. 

We  recognize  in  every  direction  that  our  in- 
tellectual faculties  are  not  adequate  to  solve 
the  problems  that  crowd  upon  us.  We  have 
to  fall  back  for  our  knowledge  upon  the  con- 
sciousness of  possessing  powers  of  apprehen- 
sion outside  the  realm  of  logic.  The  truth 
comes  in  upon  us  through  many  channels.  We 
reach  the  decisions  which  are  necessary  for 
the  conduct  of  life  and  for  the  building  of 
character  by  ways  we  often  cannot  determine. 
It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know  that  they  have 
the  quality  of  truth.  They  serve  our  purpose. 
They  enable  us  to  do  our  work.  They  help 
us  to  something  of  permanence  in  right  ways, 
and  to  solidity  in  the  peace  that  possesses  our 
hearts.  They  serve  to  secure  for  us  what  we 
are  glad  to  recognize  as  an  established  faith. 
Religion  comes  with  an  appeal  to  this  power 
of  the  soul.    We  can  discern  our  own  needs. 


ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAITH        99 

We  can  search  and  try  ourselves.  We  can 
feel  the  burden  of  a  sinful  heart  and  the  guilt 
both  of  the  transgression  that  has  passed  and 
of  the  passion  that  led  to  it.  We  can  ask  God's 
forgiveness  and  believe  that  he  hears  and  will 
answer.  When  out  of  the  mystery  that  sur- 
rounds us  there  comes  the  revelation  of  God  in 
Jesus  Christ,  there  is  that  in  us  which  re- 
sponds to  it.    We  can  believe  and  find  light. 

Therefore  the  second  great  truth  which  may 
be  regarded  as  central  is  that  Jesus  Christ 
stands  alone  as  the  revealer  of  God  and  the 
Saviour  of  men.  He  is  the  great  fact  to-day. 
He  is  the  final  and  absolute  revelation  of  God 
to  man.  When  John  Wesley  lay  dying,  after 
a  long  silence,  he  opened  his  eyes  and  asked, 
"What  was  the  text  on  which  I  preached  last 
Sunday?"  and  when  one  standing  by  repeated, 
"For  ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that,  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your 
sakes  he  became  poor,  that  ye  through  his 
poverty  may  be  rich,"  he  said,  "Yes,  that's  it. 
That  is  the  only  foundation.  There  is  no 
other." 

Finally,  we  must  yield  to  him,  we  must  open 
our  hearts  to  the  faith  that  centers  in  him,  if 
we  would  find  forgiveness  and  live.  Multi- 
tudes have  done  so.  !Many  whom  we  have 
known  and  loved  have  walked  with  him,  have 


100     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

kept  the  faith,  and  to-day  are  singing  the  song 
of  the  redeemed.  There  never  were  so  many 
in  the  world  holding  this  faith  and  living  that 
life  as  there  are  to-day.  The  greatest  of  all 
miracles  is  a  new  heart.  The  changing  of  a 
mind  from  unbelief  to  belief,  from  darkness 
concerning  itself  and  concerning  God  to  light 
that  shall  grow  and  illumine  both  the  soul  and 
God  more  and  more ;  the  breaking  of  the  fetters 
of  vice;  the  making  of  the  harsh  loving,  the 
selfish  generous  and  kind,  the  dishonest  trust- 
worthy and  true,  is  the  work  that  only  the 
Spirit  of  God  can  do.  That  rebirth  of  the 
soul  that  lies  back  of  all  this,  you  and  I  must 
have.  If  we  have  it  at  last  as  God's  free  gift 
we  must  come  and  seek  it  with  penitent  heart. 
We  must  be  willing  to  give  up  all  things  for  it. 
The  appeal  of  the  Christian  faith  is  thus  a 
personal  one.  It  brings  Jesus  Christ  within 
the  reach  of  every  man,  and  it  makes  essential 
in  the  faith  of  Jesus  those,  and  only  those, 
truths  concerning  him  which  are  the  unchang- 
ing and  sufficient  foundation  of  a  living  faith. 
These  we  can  confidently  press  upon  every 
man. 


IX 


WHY  NOT  SIMPLY  THE  MORALITY  OF 
JESUS? 

"And  as  he  was  going  forth  into  the  way,  there  ran 
one  to  him,  and  kneeled  to  him,  and  asked  him,  Good 
Teacher,  what  shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit  eternal  life? 
And  Jesus  said  unto  him.  Why  callest  thou  me  good? 
none  is  good  save  one,  even  God." — Maek  10.  17,  18. 

There  is  a  story  of  Lockhart,  Walter  Scott's 
son-in-law  and  biographer,  writing  in  a  lady's 
album : 

"In  Fancy's  days  Hope's  fervid  gaze 

O'er  Life's  fresh  circuit  ran: 
And  Faith,  like  Hope,  found  ample  scope 

Within  this  world  of  man. 
But  now  my  creed,  from  nonsense  freed, 

In  three  short  items  lies — 
That  nothing's  new,  and  nothing's  true, 

And  nothing  signifies!" 

This  is  a  sufiSciently  accurate  description  of 
conditions  to-day.  There  is  so  much  that  is 
new,  and  so  much  that  is  claimed  to  be  true, 
and  so  much  that  was  thought  true  that 
now  is  known  to  be  untrue,  that  men  find  it 
easy  to  sweep  all  credence  aside.  Doctrine  is 
little  esteemed.    Convictions  are  looked  upon 

101 


102     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

as  unintelligent,  if  not  vulgar;  and  the  hall- 
mark of  culture  is  a  gentle  but  well-satisfied 
agnosticism  in  regard  to  all  things  outside 
of  one's  own  special  line  of  occupation  or 
training.  The  unspoken  motto  that  governs 
many  lives  is,  "Let  us  live  wisely" — with  the 
emphasis  on  the  "live";  at  least,  "Let  us  live 
well/'  If  we  must  have  teaching  that  lays 
down  rules,  and  gives  us  maxims,  and  appeals 
to  life,  let  it  be  restricted  to  ethical  culture. 
When  we  go  beyond  that  and  discuss  the  re- 
quirements of  religion  we  become  narrow  and 
dogmatic.  Jowett,  the  Master  of  Balliol,  re- 
flecting the  rationalistic  spirit  of  his  times, 
said,  "It  is  impossible  to  have  a  personal  af- 
fection for  Jesus  Christ  because  he  lived  two 
thousand  years  ago."  And  this  in  the  face 
of  the  testimony  of  the  Christian  centuries, 
from  Polycarp  in  the  second  century,  who  ex- 
claimed in  his  martyrdom:  "How  can  I  blas- 
pheme him,  my  Lord  and  Saviour?  Eighty 
and  six  years  I  have  served  him  and  he  has 
never  injured  me.  How  can  I  blaspheme  my 
King  who  saves  me?"  to  the  last  dying  be- 
liever, even  though  it  was  the  little  lad  who 
the  other  day  on  his  deathbed  said,  "Mamma, 
I  love  you,  but  you  know  I  love  Him  most.'' 

The  question  is  continually  put.  Why  not 
the  morality   of  Jesus  without  his  personal 


MORALITY  APART  FROM  JESUS         103 

claims?  Where  it  is  not  expressed  in  words 
it  is  the  attitude  of  a  multitude  of  cultivated, 
upright,  and  altogether  respectable  and  ami- 
able people  on  every  side. 

The  first  reply  must  be  our  Lord's  answer. 
He  will  have  none  of  it.  Our  text  speaks  to 
us  with  all  the  vividness  of  Mark's  graphic 
details.  One  came  running  to  him.  Jesus, 
beholding  him,  loved  him.  To  the  eager  ques- 
tion, "What  shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit  eter- 
nal life?''  the  answer  is,  "Why  callest  thou  me 
good?    None  is  good  save  one,  even  God." 

The  end  of  our  Lord's  ministry  was  at  hand. 
He  was  on  the  way  to  the  last  Passover.  He 
had  just  interrogated  his  disciples  at  Csesarea 
Philippi  as  to  the  people's  opinion  and  their 
thought  about  himself,  and  had  spoken  the 
words  to  Peter  that  were  to  become  imperish- 
able in  regard  to  his  testimony  to  him  as  the 
Son  of  God.  Already  the  shadow  of  the  cross 
is  upon  him,  and  he  talks  of  his  death  which 
he  is  to  accomplish  at  Jerusalem.  The  light- 
minded  multitude  are  forsaking  him  because 
he  refused  to  accept  their  thoughtless  adora- 
tion when  they  wanted  to  make  him  a  king. 
Even  his  disciples  are  soon  to  desert  him 
with  denials  and  betrayal.  He  says:  "I  am 
not  alone.  My  Father  is  with  me.  My  Father 
is  greater  than  I.    I  and  my  Father  are  one." 


104     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

The  wedding  garment,  which  was  to  furnish 
the  supreme  test  in  admission  to  the  feast,  in 
the  parable,  was  a  gift,  and  not  an  earned 
acquisition,  or  a  desert,  and  was  the  picture 
and  type  of  the  condition  under  which  alone 
his  Father  was  to  give  admission  to  the  heav- 
enly kingdom;  and  he  was  soon  to  say,  "If  I 
wash  thee  not,  thou  hast  no  part  with  me." 
His  attitude  was  becoming  like  that  of  a  king 
marching  to  his  triumph  and  distributing 
kingly  gifts  the  values  of  which  were  little 
understood,  but  which  would  soon  become  in 
the  hearts  and  lives  of  his  followers  the  pledge 
of  his  coming  again,  and  their  eternal  reward 
in  his  presence.  Never  for  a  moment  does 
he  relax  or  modify  his  demands  or  his  personal 
claims.  His  word  always  is,  "Forsake  all, 
and  follow  me!"  "Come  unto  me,  and  live!" 
"Take  my  yoke!"  "Be  my  disciple!''  "Obey 
me  if  you  would  find  life !"  It  is  utterly  im- 
possible to  read  his  story  and  be  uncertain  as 
to  his  claims,  which  remain  unchanged  to-day. 
It  is  Christ  himself  as  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  or  it  is  nothing. 

In  the  next  place,  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is 
impossible  to  accept  the  morality  of  Christ 
and  neglect  him.  For  these  reasons:  Every 
such  emasculated  ethics  lacks  dynamic.  It 
seems  to  have  power,  and  sometimes  is  impos- 


MORALITY  APART  FROM  JESUS        105 

ing  in  its  pretenses.  Like  the  continued  revo- 
lution of  the  great  flywheel  of  an  engine  after 
the  steam  has  been  shut  off,  it  is  showy,  but 
on  its  way  to  utter  ineffectiveness.  Any  scheme 
of  morals  is  worth  nothing,  as  Carlyle  says, 
that  cannot  show  its  effectiveness  in  work; 
and  any  scheme  of  morals  that  rests  solely  on 
a  utilitarian  basis,  or  on  its  appeal  to  the 
human  reason,  or  on  the  strength  of  human 
resolution,  is  sure  to  fail.  Time  runs  against 
it.  It  has  no  propagating  power ;  the  weakness 
of  the  flesh  and  the  weariness  of  age  destroy 
eventually  even  its  appearance  of  vitality. 
When  religion  has  attempted,  as  it  has  done 
not  infrequently,  to  base  Christianity  on  a 
scheme  of  practical  morals  without  the  sanc- 
tion of  personal  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ, 
it  has  quickly  developed  conditions  under 
which  Christianity  itself  disappears.  Bishop 
Butler  tells  of  the  condition  of  the  London 
pulpits  in  his  day  when  the  Deism  of  the 
eighteenth  century  prevailed.  He  said  one 
could  not  tell  from  anything  he  heard  whether 
the  preacher  was  a  Mohammedan,  a  Buddhist, 
or  a  Confucian.  We  have  the  testimony  of  the 
historian  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  the 
"ages  in  which  morality  is  most  preached  are 
the  times  in  which  it  is  least  practiced."  And 
we  have  about  us  in  every  modern  capital  a 


106    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

refined  society  in  its  highly  developed  aesthetic 
and  luxurious  condition  displaying  a  depth 
of  corruption  against  which  its  culture  is  prov- 
ing absolutely  no  protection. 

A  morality  without  the  sanction  of  a  per- 
sonal faith  is  sure  to  breed  Phariseeism.  It 
makes  one  always  conscious  of  his  own  su- 
periority. We  know  just  how  good  we  are, 
and  just  how  we  became  so.  Our  message  be- 
comes simply,  "Do  as  I  do.  If  you  do  not, 
you  are  by  so  much  less  worthy."  We  have 
before  us  the  picture  of  Benjamin  Franklin 
with  his  little  card  and  his  pin,  pricking  each 
day  a  hole  to  mark  his  practice  of  the  several 
virtues,  with  his  growing  self-sufficiency;  and 
then  his  weakness  before  the  temptations  of 
the  French  capital.  It  is  the  mark  of  a  cul- 
ture which,  in  proportion  as  it  becomes  ex- 
quisite and  refined,  becomes  self-satisfied  and 
remote.  It  looks  out  upon  a  vulgar  world 
from  which  it  holds  itself  growingly  aloof. 
It  is  characterized  by  the  increasing  intensity 
both  of  its  aloofness  and  of  its  self-sufficiency, 
until  it  becomes  so  manifestly  separate  from 
the  spirit  of  Christ  and  the  teachings  of  Christ 
that,  at  the  end,  it  has  no  hope  in  Christ,  and 
dies,  when  it  does,  wrapped  about  in  its  own 
defiant  pride  which  it  tries  in  vain  to  make  a 
substitute  for  peace. 


MORALITY  APART  FROM  JESUS         107 

Moreover,  such  morality  does  not  deliver 
one  from  his  own  past.  Two  facts  are  sure  to 
become  true  of  us  all.  There  is  in  every  heart, 
however  smooth  and  protected  the  outer  life, 
the  double  consciousness  of  sin  and  of  weak- 
ness. These  are  not  always  recognized,  but 
they  are  sure  in  time  to  declare  themselves. 
Not  one  of  us  is  what  he  should  be.  We  know 
it  as  everyone  knows  it  of  us.  And  no  moral 
code,  however  complete  or  however  beautiful, 
can  eradicate  this  consciousness.  It  lies  in 
wait  for  us  all,  as  life  advances.  It  is  sure  to 
meet  us  before  the  bar  of  God.  And  in  that 
day,  when  the  books  are  opened,  no  peace  of 
the  soul,  passing  out  of  this  life  to  the  other, 
that  rests  solely  upon  what  a  man  has  made  of 
himself,  will  satisfy.  We  need  something  that 
goes  far  deeper  into  our  experience,  and  gives 
larger  promise  of  delivering  us  from  our  own 
past.  That  no  man  can  find  in  a  mere  code 
of  morals. 

But  if  we  succeeded  with  our  Christian  code, 
as  we  will  call  it,  freed  from  the  personal 
claims  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  would  not  satisfy 
us.  At  best  it  would  only  be  the  performance 
of  a  duty,  and  we  all  long  for  love.  Kuskin 
has  said  that  "a  man  is  never  so  great  as  when 
he  looks  up  to  one  nobler  than  himself";  and 
we  need  that  inspiration  and  that  help  if  we 


108     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

would  come  into  the  possession  of  what  God 
has  made  possible  to  us  as  his  children.  The 
dry  code  of  morals,  however  sublime  its 
maxims  and  supreme  its  sanctions,  does  not 
speak  to  the  heart  and  does  not  open  the  deep- 
est wells  of  the  spirit. 

The  great  electric  generator  in  the  power 
house  is  started  by  steam.  Then  it  is  swung 
into  the  mechanical  system  of  which  it  is  a 
part,  and  immediately  it  begins  to  run  by  a 
new  power.  The  steam  becomes  then  no  longer 
necessary,  for  the  engine  has  been  brought 
into  unison  with  the  electric  current  which 
comes  from  the  vast  storehouse  of  the  earth, 
and  with  that  new  and  throbbing  life  it  pro- 
ceeds now  on  its  mighty  way.  Henceforth  you 
cannot  stop  it  without  stopping  all  the  vast 
enginery  of  which  it  is  a  part.  However  a 
man  may  begin  in  his  course  of  right  living, 
with  whatever  vision  of  what  is  before  him,  or 
impulse  from  what  lies  within  and  about  him, 
it  is  only  when  he  has  some  one  to  love  that 
he  really  becomes  aware  of  the  power  he  pos- 
sesses. Then  he  works.  Then  he  sacrifices. 
Then  he  is  filled  with  the  joy  which  both  satis- 
fies and  ennobles. 

That  young  man  who  was  so  indifferent  to 
his  work,  so  listless  and  even  reckless  in  his 
life,  is  now  intent,  industrious,  prudent,  eager 


MORALITY  APART  FROM  JESUS         109 

to  save  and  to  possess,  eager  to  become  what 
he  should  be.  Why?  Simply  because  he  is 
in  love.  His  affection  has  gone  out  to  some 
other,  and  that  other's  response  has  awakened 
this  new  life  in  his  very  soul.  "Cut  a  little 
deeper,"  said  the  French  soldier  under  the 
surgeon's  knife,  "and  you  will  find  the  image 
of  the  Emperor."  That  was  the  explanation 
of  the  triumph  of  the  French  army,  and  of  the 
military  glory  which  so  intoxicated  the  French 
people.  Where  is  the  key  to  the  mystical 
courage  of  Charles  George  Gordon  at  Khar- 
toum, or  James  Chalmers  offering  himself  a 
sacrifice  to  the  cannibals  of  New  Guinea,  if 
it  is  not  in  the  vision  that  never  left  their 
thoughts  of  the  Christ  whom  they  loved  and 
whom  they  served,  present  with  them,  speak- 
ing to  them,  waiting  for  them  even  in  the  mo- 
ment of  the  last  surrender? 

The  disciples  of  Jesus  understood  this. 
Open  the  book  of  the  Acts.  Are  they  there 
preaching  morality?  Everywhere  "they  preach 
Jesus,  and  him  crucified."  "The  God  of  our 
fathers  hath  glorified  his  servant  Jesus,  whom 
ye  delivered  up,  and  denied.  Yea,  the  faith 
which  is  through  him  hath  given  him  this  per- 
fect soundness  in  the  presence  of  you  all."  "I 
preach  not  myself,  but  Christ  crucified."  "For 
the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us."    This  was 


110    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

their  message  everywhere  and  always.  Their 
gospel  went  to  the  hearts  of  men  and  changed 
their  lives.  It  reached  from  the  palace  of  the 
king  to  the  slave  in  his  hut.  Everywhere  it 
made  the  crucified  Christ  a  living  presence. 
It  brought  to  men  a  new  life  and  a  new  hope 
because  it  gave  them  a  new  friend  who  was 
at  once  their  Saviour  and  their  God.  Their 
glad  testimony  became  quickly  the  response 
to  the  message  that  was  brought  to  them ;  and 
the  first  witnesses  of  Christ  could  turn  to  their 
hearers  with  perfect  confidence  of  the  reality 
both  of  their  experience  and  of  their  confes- 
sion when  they  said  to  them  as  Peter  did, 
"Whom  not  having  seen  ye  love;  on  whom, 
though  now  ye  see  him  not,  yet  believing,  ye 
rejoice  greatly  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory :  receiving  the  end  of  your  faith,  even 
the  salvation  of  your  souls/'  This  was  the 
first  gospel  delivered  to  the  saints.  It  remains 
the  only  gospel  of  the  Christian  Church  to- 
day. In  offering  it  the  Church  pleads  with 
men  to  accept  it  as  it  stands,  that  in  it  they 
may  live.  Christ  is  the  one  foundation;  and 
there  is  no  other.  However  a  man  may  be  led 
into  the  way  of  life,  once  in  it,  and  learning 
of  Jesus  Christ,  his  heart  at  once  answers  to 
him;  Jesus  becomes  the  test  of  the  reality  of 
his  new  life  and  the  pledge  of  its  permanence. 


THE  SEARCHING  QUESTION 

*'He  saith  unto  them,  But  who  say  ye  that  I  am?" — 
Matthew  16.  15. 

The  turning  point  had  come  in  our  Lord's 
ministry.  The  miraculous  feeding  of  the  mul- 
titude on  the  shore  of  Galilee  had  been  fol- 
lowed by  his  refusal  to  allow  the  people  to 
proclaim  him  king.  When  they  realized  this, 
and  that  his  answer  was  final,  the  crowd  that 
had  followed  him,  and  had  been  rapidly  grow- 
ing in  numbers  and  in  enthusiasm,  began  at 
once  to  dissolve.  He  saw  what  it  meant  and 
recognized  that  the  failure  of  his  mission  so  far 
as  the  people  were  concerned  was  inevitable. 
He  had  then  withdrawn  from  Galilee  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Tyre  to  seek  retirement,  and, 
after  a  while,  was  returning  to  the  northern 
borders  of  Galilee  to  prepare  for  the  final  jour- 
ney to  the  Passover  at  Jerusalem.  He  had 
now  reached  a  spot  on  the  southern  slope  of 
Mount  Hermon,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Csesa- 
rea  Philippi.  About  a  grotto  which  had  been 
taken  advantage  of  by  early  Greek  settlers  to 
erect  an  altar  to  their  sylvan  god  Pan  a  com- 

111 


112     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

munity  had  gathered  which  had  grown  into  a 
town ;  and  lately  Philip,  the  best  son  of  Herod 
the  Great,  had  built  a  city  and  given  it  the 
name  of  the  emperor  Tiberius  Csesar  in  con- 
nection with  his  own. 

Here,  standing  on  the  confines  of  the  great 
world  of  heathenism,  then  lying  in  its  dark- 
ness and  despair,  but  to  whom  his  gospel  was 
to  be  preached  as  a  message  of  the  love  of  that 
Father  in  heaven  who  is  not  willing  that  the 
least  of  his  children  should  perish,  of  whom, 
as  yet,  they  knew  nothing,  with  behind  him 
the  chosen  people,  who,  though  heirs  of  the 
promises,  and  having  the  law  and  the  proph- 
ets, were  still  so  far  from  apprehending  their 
privileges,  or  knowing  the  God  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  that  they  were  about  to 
crucify  his  Son,  Jesus  turns  to  his  disciples 
with  the  searching  question  of  the  text. 

He  introduced  it  by  asking  what  the  people 
thought  of  him.  He  knew,  but  he  had  a  deep 
purpose.  Their  answer  would  be  that  they 
thought  him  anyone  except  the  true  Messiah. 
Their  hope  was  dead.  They  did  not  know  it, 
but,  in  fact,  they  had  fallen  away  from  the 
desire  for  spiritual  leadership.  They  wanted 
only  a  conventional  and  convenient  Christ. 
When  he  has  their  answer  he  turns  to  his  dis- 
ciples, asking,  "But  what  do  you  think?"    His 


THE  SEARCHING  QUESTION  113 

question  was  intended  to  separate  them  from 
the  people  about  them  and  to  lift  them,  if  pos- 
sible, at  once  to  a  higher  faith  and  a  final  de- 
cision. He  presses  the  same  questions  to-day, 
and  we  hear  the  same  answers. 

There  is  the  answer  of  the  favored  classes. 
They  say,  "One  of  the  prophets."  It  is  enough 
to  be  Israelites.  There  have  been  many  proph- 
ets. They  are  well  known  to  us.  We  are  of 
their  kind,  and  this  new  one  may  be  trusted  to 
recognize  us,  if  there  be  need,  as  we  recognize 
him.  Just  as  to-day  the  elect  say,  "It  is  enough 
to  be  gentlemen  and  ladies,  cultivated  people. 
We  are  not  of  the  common  herd.  We  belong 
to  the  privileged  class  who  have  had  much 
knowledge  of  God  in  the  past  and  who  have 
taken  advantage  of  their  opportunities  and 
privileges."  They  are  not  to  be  classed  with 
the  drunkard  or  the  profligate  or  the  heathen. 
Their  attitude  is  that  of  the  French  nobleman 
of  the  old  day,  who  dying  was  asked  whether 
he  did  not  want  the  priest,  and  replied,  "No; 
the  good  God  knows  a  gentleman  when  he 
sees  him."  That  w^as  sufficient;  wrapped  in 
the  mantle  of  that  supreme  self-satisfaction 
he  passed  aw^ay.  Many  to-day  are  living  in 
the  same  atmosphere  and  are,  more  or  less 
consciously,  making  the  same  answer  to  Jesus 
Christ.    They  have  no  conscious  need.    On  the 


114     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

contrary,  if  there  is  any  need,  it  is  the  world's 
need,  and  possibly  God's  need,  of  them,  which 
in  their  own  way  and  without  undue  burden 
they  will  recognize  as  they  see  fit.  They  pat- 
ronize religion  so  far  as  they  concern  them- 
selves at  all  with  it. 

Then,  again,  there  is  the  answer  of  the 
Pharisee — the  man  who  lives  a  scrupulous  life, 
and  is  not  "as  this  publican."  He  said  of  old, 
Jesus  was  another  John  the  Baptist.  He, 
therefore,  was  but  slightly  concerned,  as 
John's  message  had  never  been  for  him.  He  is 
himself  a  worker  along  the  same  lines.  To-day 
he  believes  in  civic  service.  He  devotes  himself 
to  helping  the  community  by  various  reforms. 
He  believes  in  purified  politics  and  settlements 
and  clubs  and  general  philanthropy.  He  de- 
nounces the  churches  because  of  their  appar- 
ent indifference  to  these  things.  He  thinks 
they  spend  too  much  money  on  foreign  mis- 
sions, and  too  little  at  home.  He  compares 
his  well-ordered  life  with  that  of  some  whom 
he  knows  who  are  officers  of  churches.  He 
feels  that  the  betterment  of  the  world  is  to 
come  through  the  agencies  in  which  he  is 
chiefly  interested,  and  frequently  asserts  that 
there  are  many  better  men  outside  of  the 
church  than  there  are  in  it.  He  approves  of 
Jesus  Christ  so  far  as  he  finds  in  the  Sermon 


THE  SEARCHING  QUESTION  115 

on  the  Mount  a  justification  for  his  own  atti- 
tude, and  meantime  has  many  a  word  of  dis- 
paragement for  the  churches  which  bear 
Christ's  name. 

Then  there  are  those  whose  answer  is, 
"Elijah."  These  are  the  scribes.  They  are 
devoted  to  the  ceremonies  of  religion.  They 
keep  the  commandments.  They  magnify  the 
ritual ;  they  tithe  the  mint,  the  anise,  and  the 
cummin;  they  are  faithful  to  the  church.  It 
is  enough  for  them  to  make  themselves  accept- 
able to  God  by  what  they  do  in  his  service  and 
for  his  cause.  "Why  do  you  talk  to  me  as  if 
I  were  not  a  Christian  ?''  one  of  this  class  said 
to  me.  "You  are  not  a  member  of  the  church." 
"No,  but  I  am  there  every  Sunday  morning, 
rain  or  shine;  and  I  often  notice  that  when 
the  weather  is  bad  your  deacons  are  not."  To 
these  men  Christ  is  an  institutor  of  certain 
ceremonies  by  which  men  can  make  themselves 
acceptable  to  God.  It  is  an  exalted  form  of 
penance,  and  readily  passes  current  in  the 
scheme  of  indulgences.  We  make  God  our 
debtor  by  the  extent  of  our  devotions,  and 
we  have  no  fear  of  the  result,  for  God  is  just, 
and  will  recognize  the  debt. 

Turning  from  these,  Jesus  presses  a  per- 
sonal but  a  theological  question :  "Who  do  you 
say  that  I  am?" 


116    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

Some  would  separate  religion  from  theology. 
They  make  religion  a  matter  of  chief  impor- 
tance, while  theology  is  of  small  consequence. 
But  if  religion  is,  as  some  say,  the  binding  of 
a  man's  thoughts  to  God,  we  must  inquire 
what  God  is,  in  order  that  we  may  know  upon 
whom  our  thoughts  shall  be  fixed.  If  religion, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  a  system  of  service,  we 
must  ask  what  is  the  sanction  for  this  service, 
and  by  what  authority  it  is  governed ;  to  whom 
does  it  belong?  Or  if,  again,  it  is  said  religion 
is  a  matter  of  the  feelings  and  of  the  heart, 
we  must  ask  to  whom  are  those  feelings  to  be 
directed,  and  upon  whom  is  the  affection  of 
the  heart  to  be  set.  Keligion  cannot  exist 
apart  from  its  object,  which  is  God.  So  that 
when  Jesus  presses  the  question,  "Who  do  ye 
say  that  I  am?"  he  is  asking  not  only  for  the 
affection  of  the  heart,  but  for  the  clear  appre- 
hension by  the  head,  for  that  completeness  of 
devotion  and  personal  surrender  to  him  which 
alone  can  be  accepted  as  marking  a  true  dis- 
cipleship. 

As  he  led  up  to  this  question  and  turned 
with  his  searching  gaze  to  his  disciples,  the 
pathos  of  the  scene  is  impressive.  Some 
thirty-two  years  had  been  spent  under  the  re- 
strictions and  burdens  of  his  earthly  life.  He 
was  within  a  half  year  of  his  death.    Indeed, 


THE  SEARCHING  QUESTION  117 

he  now  began  to  speak  of  his  death  which  he 
was  to  accomplish  in  Jerusalem,  where  he  has 
to  "suffer  many  things  of  the  elders  and  the 
chief  priests  and  the  scribes,  and  be  killed." 
He  had  from  the  beginning  claimed  his  Mes- 
siahship  and  his  oneness  with  his  Father.  The 
life  in  himself  which  is  the  characteristic  of 
divinity  was  his.  He  had  power  on  earth  to 
forgive  sins.  He  had  fed  the  multitude  and 
healed  all  who  were  brought  to  him,  as  witness 
of  his  power  to  bless  in  this  life  no  less  than 
in  the  other.  And  the  multitude  had  turned 
from  him  because  he  would  not  be  made  a 
king.  He  had  gone  to  the  coast  of  Tyre  under 
the  weight  of  the  sorrow  in  his  heart  over 
Israel,  and  to  come  in  touch  with  the  heathen, 
who  were  waiting  for  his  gospel.  The  poor 
Syrophoenician  woman,  pleading  for  her  sick 
child  and  in  her  eager  faith  willing  to  accept 
even  "the  crumbs  that  fall  from  the  children's 
table,"  was  the  picture  of  the  new  field  open- 
ing for  his  gospel  in  the  world  outside. 

He  now  turns  with  the  new  light  in  his 
heart,  the  "joy"  in  which  he  was  to  endure  the 
cross,  as  he  sets  his  face  once  more  to  the 
familiar  scenes  of  his  active  ministry.  Here, 
as  he  stands  on  the  slope  of  that  splendid 
mountain,  which  is  the  glory  on  the  horizon 
of  northern   Palestine,   and  which  furnished 


118    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

to  all  the  generations  of  Israel  the  noblest 
imagery  of  their  praises,  the  words  on  the  lips 
of  the  little  company  of  his  disciples  but  ex- 
pressed the  completeness  of  the  separation  of 
his  people  from  him.  There  was  no  place  for 
him  in  their  hearts,  as  there  was  no  under- 
standing of  him  in  their  intelligence.  They 
would  gladly  offer  to  him  so  much  of  recogni- 
tion and  respect  as  would  place  him  with  their 
great  prophets;  but  there  was  not  the  least 
trace  of  recognition  of  what  he  was  in  him- 
self. And  the  day  is  far  spent.  The  shadow  of 
the  cross  on  which  he  is  to  give  his  life  for  the 
world  already  stretches  out  toward  him.  The 
night  is  at  hand.  How  can  he  be  content  with 
such  acceptance?  He  must  press  upon  these 
followers  about  him  the  earnest  question, 
"Where  do  you  stand  ?'^  Have  you  not  a  surer 
faith?  Does  not  your  love  spring  from  a 
deeper  well?  Is  there  not  a  recognition  in 
your  hearts  of  what  I  am  doing  for  you,  of 
what  I  am  in  myself?  You  have  been  close  to 
me.  You  have  been  favored  with  privileges 
that  the  multitude  have  not.  You  have  heard 
my  words.  You  have  had  the  benefit  of  my 
intimate  teaching.  I  have  done  for  jou  what 
it  was  not  permitted  to  me  to  do  for  others. 
Tell  me  where  you  stand.  Will  you  not  go 
further  than  the  thoughtless  crowd?     Have 


THE  SEARCHING  QUESTION  119 

you  not  in  your  hearts  a  deeper,  surer  truth 
than  they? 

He  presses  that  question  upon  the  favored 
men  and  women  of  to-day.  You  are  the  chil- 
dren of  privilege.  You  know  what  it  is  to  be 
a  Christian.  You  have  been  brought  up  in 
Christian  homes.  Y^ou  live  in  a  Christian  com- 
munity and  have  all  the  advantages  of  an  in- 
herited Christian  training.  And  you  say, 
"There  are  many  good  men  outside  the 
church,''  and,  "What  need  is  there  why  I 
should  make  a  public  confession?  There  are 
so  many  things  I  am  undecided  about ;  so  much 
in  the  Creed  that  I  do  not  believe.  I  do  not 
want  to  bind  myself." 

And  this  is  all  you  have  to  say  to  the  sor- 
rowing Christ.  We  look  into  his  face.  We 
hear  again  his  pathetic  voice  pressing  the  old 
command,  "Follow  thou  me!''  "Take  my  yoke 
upon  you!"  "Confess  me  before  men!"  An- 
swer me  clearly:  "Who  do  you  say  that  I  am? 
Are  you  ashamed  of  me?"  And  when  the  an- 
swer comes,  as  it  did  of  old,  "Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  we  see 
again  the  bright  smile  and  hear  again  the 
solemn  answer,  "Flesh  and  blood  have  not  re- 
vealed it  unto  you."  This  is  not  the  wisdom 
of  a  man's  own  intelligence.  It  is  not  the  re- 
sult of  labored  argument,  or  of  eager  resolu- 


120    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

tion.  This  is  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
It  is  the  direct  testimony  of  God  to  the  soul, 
enlightening  it  in  its  darkness,  melting  it  in 
its  hardness,  driving  away  the  mists  which 
long  have  beclouded  it,  showing  a  man  to  him- 
self in  the  sin  of  his  unbelief,  in  the  weakness 
of  his  procrastination,  delivering  him,  in 
short,  from  himself,  by  that  grace  of  God 
which  seeks  the  lost  sheep  and  calls  the  prodi- 
gal back  to  his  father's  house.  Yours  is  to  be 
the  joy  of  the  forgiven  sinner;  yours  the 
strength  to  do  right;  yours  the  new  and  ever- 
growing love  of  the  Father,  made  known  to 
you  by  his  Son. 

What  is  the  religion  that  Jesus  calls  you  to, 
as  he  asks  this  confession?  It  is  a  religion 
represented  by  his  cross.  Its  head  is  lifted 
toward  God.  Its  arms  are  outstretched  toward 
men ;  its  foot  is  rooted  in  the  solid  earth,  and 
extended  upon  it  is  one  who  has  given  up 
himself  in  absolute  devotion  to  God  and  to 
his  service.  Christ  has  spoken  to  you,  and  in 
the  depths  of  your  heart  you  have  heard  his 
voice,  you  have  answered  his  call,  and  you 
have  entered  into  life.  What  matters  it  what 
particular  life  it  may  be  to  which  in  his  serv- 
ice you  are  to  be  led?  Is  it  not  enough  that 
it  is  with  him,  and  that  you  are  entering  his 
kingdom,  where  there  is  to  be  joy  for  evermore? 


XI 

THE  MEANING  OF  A  NEGLECTED  CHRIST 

"And  we  esteemed  him  not." — Isaiah  53.  3. 

In  this  sentence  the  sorrows  of  the  servant  of 
God,  depicted  in  this  incomparable  chapter  of 
the  prophet,  culminate.  It  seems  to  gather 
up  in  itself  all  that  has  been  described  of  his 
being  "despised  and  rejected,"  "a  man  of  sor- 
rows and  acquainted  with  grief ;  and  then  to 
add  this  final  affront,  at  once  unnecessary, 
gratuitous,  unspeakable. 

Whomever  the  prophet  had  in  mind,  the 
Christian  Church  has  with  one  consent  recog- 
nized the  description  of  the  Lord,  and  has  been 
moved  with  an  emotion  that  has  lost  none  of 
its  strength  through  the  centuries.  It  is  "we" 
who  have  done  it ;  and  that  "we"  has  been  the 
self-accusing  confession  of  generation  after 
generation.  To-day  it  is  ours.  It  is  not  a 
charge  that  can  be  shifted  from  the  speaker 
to  be  used  as  an  arrow  of  God  in  other  hearts. 
As  we  repeat  it  we  find  ourselves  in  the  posi- 
tion of  the  great  prophet  who  spoke  for  him- 
self as  well  as  for  his  people.  You  and  I  alike 
have  no  privilege  of  passing  it  on  to  some  other 

121 


122     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

one  while  we  stand  aside.  It  is  written  of  us 
as  truly  as  it  is  written  of  any.  The  solemn  re- 
sponsibility that  it  declares  becomes  a  solemn 
judgment  upon  every  soul  that  does  not  find 
its  last  acquittal  before  the  throne  of  God. 
Its  consequences,  whatever  they  may  be,  are 
not  to  be  escaped ;  and  the  thought  of  the  pos- 
sible consequences,  in  the  light  of  the  later 
revelation  of  the  New  Testament,  may  well 
make  any  man  pause. 

We  like  to  say,  "Every  man  has  a  right  to 
his  own  opinion'';  and,  "How  I  may  esteem 
Jesus  Christ  I  alone  shall  determine."  Yes, 
we  all  have  every  right  to  our  opinions;  but 
we  must  all  face  the  consequences.  The  gauge 
on  the  steam  boiler  is  set  at  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds.  The  engineer  thinks  the  boiler 
can  safely  carry  two  hundred  pounds.  He 
raises  the  steam.  The  boiler  explodes ;  and  he 
has  no  second  chance.  The  captain  approach- 
ing the  harbor  says,  "I  can  steer  my  vessel  in 
as  well  as  any  pilot."  He  attempts  to  do  so 
and  runs  her  on  the  rocks.  No  one  will  listen 
to  his  excuses.  The  funeral  cortege,  conveying 
the  remains  of  President  Lincoln  to  their  last 
resting  place,  was  passing  through  the  streets 
of  Springfield,  Illinois.  A  man  on  the  side- 
walk refused  to  take  off  his  hat  and  uttered 
some    disparaging    remarks    concerning    the 


MEANING  OF  A  NEGLECTED  CHRIST    123 

martyred  President.  He  barely  escaped  with 
his  life  at  the  hands  of  the  indignant  crowd. 
Jesus  Christ  goes  to  his  death,  and  "we  es- 
teem him  not."  Is  it  not  a  matter  of  conse- 
quence? 

But  some  one  says,  "The  world  does  esteem 
Jesus  Christ,  and  never  more  than  to-day.'' 
Ask  yourself,  Is  it  true?  Do  I  esteem  him? 
A  distinguished  writer  was  recently  in  Amer- 
ica. She  was  eagerly  entertained  and  cordially 
welcomed.  Suppose  that  on  her  way  back  to 
England  she  remembered  that  she  had  been 
welcomed  as  the  granddaughter  of  Arnold  of 
Eugby,  that  she  was  recognized  as  a  cultured 
and  refined  lady,  but  that  not  a  word  was 
said  about  her  books,  even  though  there  were 
those  among  them  in  the  writing  of  which  she 
had  braved  the  public  opinion  of  her  own  land 
and  staked  her  heart,  would  she  have  felt 
that  she  had  been  esteemed?  A  world-famous 
German  medical  professor  was  lately  with  us. 
He  had  risked  his  life  in  India  studying  the 
bubonic  plague,  hoping  to  discover  its  bacillus 
and  to  find  the  antitoxin.  If,  when  Professor 
Koch  was  returning  to  Berlin  from  America, 
he  reflected  that  he  had  been  received  hos- 
pitably, and  treated  as  a  distinguished  gentle- 
man, but  no  mention  had  been  made  of  the 
plague  or  antitoxin,  would  he  have  thought 


124     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

himself  rightly  esteemed?  A  member  of  the 
Russian  Duma  was  in  America  at  the  time 
of  its  first  session  when  the  question  was  agi- 
tating Russia  whether  the  people  would  be 
allowed  to  send  their  representatives  to  Saint 
Petersburg.  Suppose  that  after  all  the  atten- 
tion that  was  shown  him,  and  the  hospitality 
he  received,  he  was  allowed  to  return  home 
without  having  had  a  word  said  to  him  about 
Russia  and  the  great  crisis  for  which  he  stood, 
w^ould  he  have  felt  himself  esteemed?  The 
story  is  told  of  the  late  Mr.  Whistler,  the  dis- 
tinguished Anglo-American  painter,  that  some 
one  was  talking  to  him  of  Sir  Frederick  Leigh- 
ton,  at  that  time  the  foremost  English  painter. 
The  friend  spoke  of  his  personal  charms,  his 
culture,  the  beauty  of  his  home,  and  his  many 
attractive  traits.  When  he  paused  Whistler 
with  upturned  nose  and  familiar  sneer  said, 
"He  paints,  I  believe!" 

So  some  men  speak  of  Jesus  Christ — a  won- 
derful teacher,  a  great  social  reformer,  a  beau- 
tiful character,  and  so  on,  and  so  on;  for  the 
tale  of  his  excellencies  is  never  quite  ended; 
and  then  we  hear  it  added,  "He  died  for  the 
world,  I  believe."  Do  we,  then,  say  that  he 
was  esteemed?  What  does  it  all  come  to  if 
you  and  I  accept  the  blessings  of  Christian 
civilization,  and  recognize  the  supreme  influ- 


MEANING  OF  A  NEGLECTED  CHRIST   125 

ence  of  the  Bible,  and  join  in  the  praises  of 
Him  who  is  the  object  of  so  much  of  the  New 
Testament  story,  and  we  do  not  care  to  know, 
or  do  not  value,  that  for  which  he  came  into 
the  world?  The  text,  then,  has  an  application 
for  us  and  for  the  men  of  to-day. 

Jesus  Christ  came  for  two  things.  First 
of  all,  he  came  to  make  God  known.  This 
was  the  burden  of  his  utterance  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end.  God  is  love,  and  because 
He  "so  loved  the  world"  he  gave  his  Son  to 
die  for  the  world.  Men  knew^  nothing  of  God 
in  that  relation.  Look  where  you  will  in  hea- 
thenism, will  you  find  anywhere  such  teaching 
as  in  this  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah?  Where 
is  there  a  revelation  like  that  which  is  given 
in  Jesus  Christ  himself?  Here  is  the  love  that 
will  not  let  us  go.  It  seeks  that  which  is  lost, 
and  it  saves,  as  only  the  Son  of  God  can  save. 
It  gathers  little  children  in  its  arms,  and  it 
reaches  to  the  outermost  man.  And  it  pre- 
sents this  love  as  the  expression  of  the  charac- 
ter of  a  God  who  is  holy  and  just. 

Did  you  ever  think  what  an  awful  thing  it 
would  be  if  God  were  not  just?  There  are 
certain  great  facts  which  are  to  us  funda- 
mental. Our  life  moves  within  them  as  in  a 
fixed  orbit  and  we  cannot  go  outside  of  them 
without  distress  and  even  disaster.     For  ex- 


126    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

ample,  we  always  assume  that  the  earth  is 
stable.  Imagine  what  would  happen  if  for  a 
moment  we  were  in  doubt  about  it,  if  the  earth 
beneath  our  feet  should  begin  to  give  away, 
or  even  should  tremble  and  rock.  The  uni- 
versal testimony  is,  there  is  no  terror  like  that 
which  an  earthquake  occasions.  Suppose  a 
wife  is  compelled  to  doubt  that  her  husband 
is  loyal.  At  once  everything  is  changed. 
What  matters  how  fine  her  house  is,  or  how 
abundant  his  provision  for  her  needs?  The 
foundation  of  all  has  gone.  Imagine  what 
the  condition  would  be  if  we  could  doubt  that 
God  is  just!  No  proclamation  of  divine  love 
would  have  any  validity.  The  foundation  for 
faith  in  God  and  for  every  conceivable  rela- 
tion in  which  man  can  stand  to  his  Maker,  or 
in  which  there  shall  be  room  for  adoration  in 
the  human  soul,  rests  on  the  conviction  that 
God's  ways  are  always  right.  Paul  has  this 
in  mind  when  in  his  exposition  of  the  justify- 
ing work  of  Jesus  he  says,  "It  was  for  the 
showing  of  God's  righteousness,  that  he  might 
be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  that  hath  faith 
in  Jesus.'' 

Here  lies  the  supreme  work  of  the  Lord.  He 
came  to  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  men.  The 
wonder  of  the  revelation  that  he  made  lies 
in  this,  that  that  holy  God,  before  whom  every 


MEANING  OF  A  NEGLECTED  CHRIST   127 

sinner  must  tremble,  is  the  same  who  yet  loves 
the  sinner  and  seeks,  even  in  a  way  that  lies 
beyond  the  understanding  of  man,  by  a  di- 
vinely suggested  atonement  to  deliver  him 
from  the  consequences  of  his  sin  and  to  es- 
tablish him  in  the  divine  grace.  When  this  is 
grasped,  then  there  is  for  the  penitent  heart 
peace  in  the  assurance  of  pardon,  comfort  in 
the  face  of  sorrow,  strength  as  against  every 
temptation,  and,  once  and  for  all,  meaning 
given  to  life;  for  we  are  to  know  him  as  only 
those  know  him  to  whom  through  Jesus  Christ 
he  is  revealed. 

When  the  late  Dr.  Martineau  was  resigning 
his  pastorate  in  Liverpool  he  gave  this  as  a 
farewell  utterance :  "The  one  deep  faith  which 
has  determined  my  whole  word  and  work 
among  you  is  in  the  living  union  of  God  with 
our  humanity.  We  pine  as  prisoners  until  we 
burst  into  the  air  of  that  supernatural  life 
which  he  lives  eternally;  we  are  parched  with 
a  holy  thirst  till  we  find  contact  with  the  run- 
ning waters  of  his  quick  affection.  Him  im- 
mediately, him  in  person;  him  in  whisper  of 
the  day,  and  eye  to  eye  by  night;  him  for  a 
close  refuge  in  temptation,  not  as  a  large 
thought  of  ours,  but  as  an  Almightiness  in  him- 
self; him  ready  with  his  moistening  dews  for 
the  dry  heart,  his  breathings  of  hope  for  the 


128    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

sorrowing;  him  always  and  everywhere  living 
for  our  holy  trust,  do  we  absolutely  need  for 
our  repose,  and  wildly  wander  till  we  find.  In 
Christ  alone  is  the  reconciliation  perfect  be- 
tween the  human  and  the  divine."^ 

A  year  before  he  said  of  Jesus  Christ :  "He 
opens  to  us  the  moral  and  spiritual  mysteries 
of  our  existence,  appealing  to  a  consciousness 
in  us  that  was  asleep  before.  And  though  he 
leaves  whole  worlds  of  thought  approachable 
only  by  silent  wonder,  yet  his  own  walk  of 
heavenly  communion,  his  words  of  peace  and 
works  of  power,  his  strife  of  divine  sorrow, 
his  cross  of  self-sacrifice,  his  reappearance  be- 
hind the  veil  of  life  eternal,  fix  on  him  such 
holy  trust  and  love  that  where  we  are  denied 
the  assurance  of  knowledge  we  attain  the  re- 
pose of  faith."^  This,  then,  is  the  supreme 
work  of  Jesus. 

In  the  second  place,  Christ  came  to  save  us 
from  sin.  He  died  for  you  and  me  that  we 
might  live.  This  is  the  insistent  and  compel- 
ling message  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is 
reiterated  in  every  form,  and  language  is 
strained  to  present  it  to  our  apprehension. 
"Ye  were  redeemed,  not  with  corruptible 
things,  with  silver  or  gold,  but  with  precious 
blood,  even  the  blood  of  Christ."    "Unto  him 

^Life,  i,  333.  2Life,  i,  286. 


MEANING  OF  A  NEGLECTED  CHRIST   129 

that  loveth  us,  and  loosed  us  from  our  sins 
by  his  blood/'  "How  much  more  shall  the 
blood  of  Christ,  who  through  the  Eternal 
Spirit  offers  himself  without  blemish  unto 
God,  cleanse  your  conscience  from  dead  works 
to  serve  the  living  God/'  "It  was  the  good 
pleasure  of  the  Father  through  him  to  recon- 
cile all  things  unto  himself/'  This  is  not  a 
theory,  but  an  experience;  Christianity  is  not 
a  philosophy,  and  not  a  quiet  influence.  It  is 
a  life  born  of  God,  his  gift,  the  result  in  the 
sinful  and  penitent  soul  of  accepting  the  re- 
demption that  is  found  in  Jesus  Christ.  It 
brings  joy  and  love  and  peace. 

The  other  day  the  rescuing  party  after  a 
long  struggle  reached  the  gallery  in  the  mine 
where  some  English  miners  had  been  im- 
prisoned for  days.  They  were  found  all  dead. 
By  their  side  were  written  their  last  messages 
to  the  loved  ones  whom  they  were  not  to  see 
again.  They  were  messages  full  of  love,  and 
of  joy  in  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Both 
expressions  were  equally  real,  their  love  of 
their  friends  and  their  love  of  their  Lord.  This 
joy  and  peace,  this  strength  in  the  presence  of 
death  itself,  is  what  he  came  to  bring;  what 
he  has  brought  to  unnumbered  souls  and  what 
he  is  bringing  to-day  and  is  able  to  bring  to 
whoever  will  receive  him.     And  the  accusa- 


130    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

tion  stands,  "We  esteemed  him  not!"  What 
if  that  accusation  be  true  of  you? 

Years  ago  I  knew  a  widow  who  had  a 
younger  son  who  was  a  constant  anxiety.  She 
made  a  home  for  him.  She  watched  over  him 
and  cared  for  him  while  his  spirit  grew  more 
and  more  rebellious  through  the  years  of  his 
youth,  until  in  early  manhood  his  recklessness 
made  him  a  daily  distress.  At  last  he  left 
her  home.  Soon  after  she  died.  At  the  hour 
of  her  funeral  I  stood  by  her  open  coffin  with 
a  few  friends  in  the  little  parlor  of  her  humble 
cottage.  As  the  service  was  about  to  begin 
steps  were  heard,  and  the  son  came  in  through 
the  back  door  in  the  kitchen,  and  stood  by  the 
open  coffin,  looking  into  his  mother's  face.  No 
one  spoke.  He  gazed  for  a  moment  in  silence, 
then  turned  and  went  out.  He  had  esteemed 
her  not!  And  now  the  meaning  of  that  word 
and  of  his  act  was  thrust  upon  him  and  upon 
all. 

What  will  that  day  mean  when  you  and  I 
stand  not  by  an  open  grave,  but  in  the  presence 
of  Him  who  on  the  throne  still  will  show  the 
marks  of  the  wounded  hands  and  the  pierced 
side,  who  died  that  we  might  live?  "And  we 
esteemed  him  not!''  may  well  be  the  cry  that 
will  ring  in  the  heart  forever. 


XII 

THE  CALL  OF  THE  WORLD 

"Jesus  answered  them.  My  Father  worketh  even  until 
now,  and  I  work." — John  5.  17. 

A  LITTLE  while  ago  some  one  wrote  this  story, 
which  is  the  best  introduction  of  our  theme : 

"When  the  Nineteenth  Century  died,  its 
Spirit  descended  to  the  vaulted  chamber  of 
the  Past,  where  the  Spirits  of  the  dead  Cen- 
turies sit  on  granite  thrones  together.  When 
the  newcomer  entered,  all  turned  toward  him 
and  the  Spirit  of  the  Eighteenth  Century 
spoke:  'Tell  thy  tale,  brother.  Give  us  word 
of  the  human  kind  we  left  to  thee.' 

"*I  am  the  Spirit  of  the  Wonderful  Cen- 
tury. I  gave  man  the  mastery  over  nature. 
Discoveries  and  inventions,  which  lighted  the 
black  space  of  the  past  like  lonely  stars,  have 
clustered  in  a  Milky  Way  of  radiance  under 
my  rule.  One  man  does  by  the  touch  of  his 
hand  what  the  toil  of  a  thousand  slaves  never 
did.  Knowledge  has  unlocked  the  mines  of 
wealth,  and  the  wealth  of  to-day  creates  the 
vaster  wealth  of  to-morrow.  Man  has  escaped 
the  slavery  of  Necessity  and  is  free. 

131 


132    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

"  ^I  freed  the  thoughts  of  men.  They  face 
the  facts  and  know.  Their  knowledge  is  com- 
mon to  all.  The  deeds  of  the  East  at  eve  are 
known  in  the  West  at  morn.  They  send  their 
whispers  under  the  seas  and  across  the  clouds. 

"  ^I  broke  the  chains  of  bigotry  and  despo- 
tism. I  made  men  free  and  equal.  Every  man 
feels  the  worth  of  his  manhood. 

"  ^I  have  touched  the  summit  of  history.  I 
did  for  mankind  what  none  of  you  did  before. 
They  are  rich.    They  are  wise.    They  are  free.' 

"The  Spirits  of  the  dead  Centuries  sat  si- 
lent, with  troubled  eyes.  At  last  the  Spirit 
of  the  First  Century  spoke  for  all : 

"  ^We  all  spoke  proudly  when  we  came  here 
in  the  flush  of  our  deeds,  and  thou  more 
proudly  than  we  all.  But  as  we  sit  and  think 
of  what  was  before  us,  and  what  has  come 
after  us,  shame  and  guilt  bear  down  our  pride. 
Your  words  sound  as  if  the  redemption  of  man 
had  come  at  last.    Has  it  come? 

"  *You  have  made  men  rich?  Tell  us,  is 
none  in  pain  with  hunger  to-day  and  none  in 
fear  of  hunger  for  to-morrow?  Do  all  children 
grow  up  fair  of  limb  and  trained  for  thought 
and  action?  Do  none  die  before  their  time? 
Has  the  mastery  of  nature  made  men  free  to 
enjoy  their  lives  and  loves,  and  to  live  the 
higher  life  of  the  mind? 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  WORLD  133 

"  ^You  have  made  men  wise.  Are  they  wise 
or  cunning?  Have  they  learned  to  restrain 
their  bodily  passions?  Have  they  learned  to 
deal  with  their  fellows  in  justice  and  love? 

"  ^You  have  set  them  free.  Are  there  none, 
then,  who  toil  for  others  against  their  will? 
Are  all  men  free  to  do  the  work  they  love  best? 

"  ^You  have  made  men  one.  Are  there  no 
barriers  of  class  to  keep  man  and  maid  apart? 
Does  none  rejoice  in  the  cause  that  makes  the 
many  moan?  Do  men  no  longer  spill  the  blood 
of  men  for  their  ambition  and  the  sweat  of 
men  for  their  greed?' 

"As  the  Spirit  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 
listened,  his  head  sank  to  his  breast. 

"  ^Your  shame  is  already  upon  me.  My 
great  cities  are  as  yours  were.  My  millions  live 
from  hand  to  mouth.  Those  who  toil  longest 
have  least.  My  thousands  sink  exhausted  be- 
fore their  days  are  half  spent.  My  human 
wreckage  multiplies.  Class  faces  class  in  sul- 
len distrust.  Their  freedom  and  knowledge 
has  only  made  men  keener  to  suffer.  Give  me 
a  seat  among  you,  and  let  me  think  why  it  has 
been  so.' 

"The  others  turned  to  the  Spirit  of  the  First 
Century.  *Your  promised  redemption  is  long 
in  coming.' 

"  ^But  it  will  come,'  he  replied." 


134    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

It  has  come.  To-day  this  text  has  an  inter- 
pretation which  it  has  not  had  in  the  past. 
Our  Lord  declared  in  this  solemn  and  formal 
way  that  he  had  come  to  do  only  what  God 
had  always  been  doing.  God  had  always  loved 
the  world.  God  had  always  sought  to  be 
known  by  his  creatures.  God  had  always 
sought  to  save  sinners.  Now  he  is  making  a 
ncAv  and  final  effort  to  do  what  had  not  been 
successfully  done  before. 

Here  is  the  explanation  of  the  past.  At  the 
beginning  God  gave  men  religion.  Always 
and  everywhere  they  have  possessed  it.  It  is 
the  expression  of  that  divine  image  in  which 
God  made  man  and  of  that  spirit  which  at  the 
beginning  God  breathed  into  him.  Man  is  a 
child  of  God.  His  Father  has  never  forsaken 
him,  and  he  has  never  been  without  that  yearn- 
ing which  has  moved  him  to  express  himself 
in  some  form  of  worship,  and  to  be  aware  of 
that  voice  in  his  heart  which  we  call  con- 
science, but  which  instinctively  men  recognize 
as  the  voice  of  God.  Men  have  overlaid  such 
revelation  of  God  as  they  have  had  and  smoth- 
ered it  with  their  passions  and  appetites  and 
wrongdoing.  They  have  heaped  upon  such 
worship  as  God  inspired  in  them  their  own 
misleading  and  often  corrupting  ceremonies, 
until  the  religions  of  the  world  have  come  to 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  WORLD  135 

be  known  chiefly  as  heathen,  and  as  at  once  a 
mark  and  a  cause  of  man's  degradation. 

Its  counterpart  is  to  be  seen  in  the  vast 
array  of  traditional  rituals  and  ceremonies 
and  historic  doctrines  which,  whatever  pur- 
pose they  may  have  served  in  the  past — and 
many  of  them  have  rendered  great  service — 
to-day  are  the  load  which  a  pure  Christianity 
is  carrying  and  which  serve  to  divide  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  into  so  many 
distinctive  groups  or  denominations  which 
have  kept  Christians  apart,  have  weakened 
its  attack  upon  evil,  and  constitute  the  chief 
difficulty  in  the  way  of  presenting  the  gospel 
of  Christ  to  the  outside  world. 

Therefore  it  was  that  when  the  method  of 
the  past  failed,  and  the  world  like  an  over- 
loaded ship  was  sinking  with  the  weight  of  its 
corruptions,  God  sent  his  Son.  In  this  sense 
it  was  that  Jesus  came  to  fulfill,  and  not  to 
destroy.  His  message  was  not,  God  will  so 
love  the  world,  or  even,  God  does  so  love  the 
world,  but  God  has  so  loved  the  world.  It  is 
the  great  historic  truth  that  he  proclaims. 
True  in  the  present  because  it  always  has  been 
true  in  the  past. 

This  is  the  new  vision  of  God  in  relation  to 
the  world  which  is  given  to  us  to-day.  Men 
have  attained  only  now  to  a  new  interpreta- 


136    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

tion  of  the  world  religions.  As  never  before 
men  are  eager  to  rid  Christianity  of  all  that 
divides  and  impairs.  As  never  before  they  are 
feeling  the  yoke  of  its  inherited  divisions,  and 
they  now  would  strip  off  its  forms  and  cere- 
monies and  break  away  from  its  exclusive 
rituals.  They  will  have  none  of  its  denomina- 
tional or  distinctive  authorities.  They  are  im- 
patient of  its  divisive  creeds;  they  are  eager 
to  reduce  its  denominational  differences  to  a 
minimum,  seeking  only  to  cherish  that  which 
is  a  reminder  of  a  moral  and  spiritual  history, 
while  they  get  rid  of  all  that  holds  them  back 
from  recognizing  the  larger  brotherhood.  This 
movement  which  has  begun  by  spontaneous 
movement,  or,  as  may  more  justly  be  said,  by 
the  impulse  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  has  already 
gained  great  headway  on  the  more  important 
mission  fields.  The  churches  of  South  India 
have  already  united  in  a  common  organization. 
Certain  churches  in  Japan  already  are  known 
as  the  Kumai  churches,  or  the  native  Christian 
churches  of  that  great  country;  looking  for- 
ward to  the  day  when  all  Christian  churches 
there  will  be  joined  in  one  national  organiza- 
tion. In  North  China  three  of  the  oldest 
Christian  bodies  have  already  combined  their 
forces,  and  on  one  great  mission  field  a  native 
Christian  recently  said,    "If  the  missionaries 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  WORLD  137 

were  withdrawn  we  should  at  once  unite  our 
churches  under  one  national  name." 

The  reflex  influence  of  this  is  widely  felt  at 
home.  The  question  of  Christian  brotherhood 
has  become  vital  and  uppermost  in  all  re- 
ligious assemblies.  At  least,  wherever  it  is 
broached  it  at  once  becomes  dominant.  Chris- 
tianity is  stripping  herself  for  her  great  work 
as  never  in  the  past,  and  is  reaching  out  the 
hand  to  her  fellow  men  with  a  new  eagerness 
and  a  new  appeal  as  the  Christian  recognizes 
that  the  same  Father  in  heaven  who  sent  the 
message  of  his  Son  to  him  has  been  sending 
his  message  in  other  forms  to  his  other  chil- 
dren in  all  the  ages;  and  that  the  religions  in 
which  their  worship  to-day  is  expressed,  how- 
ever degraded  and  antagonistic  to  that  which 
the  Christian  believes,  is  nevertheless  inspired 
by  the  revelation  of  the  same  God  that  the 
Christian  worships.  And  his  business  is  to 
help  his  brother  to  get  rid  of  the  ashes  heaped 
upon  the  altar  of  his  faith  that  the  live  coal 
from  the  altar  of  God  hidden  beneath  may 
blaze  anew. 

This  is  the  interpretation  of  the  mission  of 
Christ  given  to  his  Church  to-day.  He  sum- 
mons his  followers  to  go  with  him  into  the 
great  world  and  tell  the  world  of  his  Father 
and  theirs.     The  triumphant  work  which  he 


138    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

began,  and  which  has  been  the  glory  of  Chris- 
tendom through  the  centuries,  is  the  same 
work  which  God  has  been  seeking  to  do  from 
the  beginning  and  which  only  now,  by  his  sac- 
rifice in  giving  himself  for  the  world,  is  finally 
to  be  accomplished.  This  is  the  vision  that 
makes  the  great  appeal  to  the  Christian  Church 
to-day.  -It  is  the  call  of  the  twentieth  century, 
and  is  the  challenge  and  summons  to  the 
young  life  of  the  churches.  Never  have  our 
young  people  had  such  an  opportunity;  and 
nobly  they  are  responding  to  it.  The  Student 
Volunteer  Movement,  which  the  other  day  gath- 
ered four  thousand  young  people  in  their  great 
convention,  is  gaining  volume  like  the  rising 
tide,  and  is  making  possible  a  development  of 
Christian  missions  and  a  progress  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  such  as  has  never  been  seen  in 
the  past. 

Over  against  it  is  the  call  of  the  world  in 
secular  directions.  Business  and  science  and 
art  are  each  holding  out  their  hands  offering 
great  prizes  to  the  young  people.  Wealth  and 
luxury  and  pleasure  and  power  were  never  so 
accessible  and  never  so  attractive.  But  the 
call  of  the  world  as  the  cry  of  children  of 
a  common  father  is  far  more  eloquent  and 
should  be  far  more  impressive.  It  is  a  new 
voice  as  none  of  the  others  is.    More  startling 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  WORLD  139 

than  the  progress  of  the  world  in  any  other  di- 
rection is  this  advance  in  Christian  under- 
standing of  God's  work  in  the  past  and  of 
God's  voice  to-day.  The  shame  and  the  loss, 
if  it  be  not  heeded,  will  be  overwhelming. 

Another  parable  by  the  same  hand  that 
wrote  the  one  above  sets  this  before  us : 

"The  Spirit  of  Modern  Progress  one  day 
called  up  a  human  being,  and  said  to  him :  ^I 
perceive  that  you  are  discontented  with  your 
life.  You  long  for  things  beyond  your  power. 
Tell  me,  now,  what  it  is  that  will  make  you 
happy,  and  I  will  give  it  to  you.' 

"The  human  being  stopped  a  moment  to 
reflect  before  he  replied:  ^If  you  have  such 
wonderful  power  at  your  command,  then  make 
my  life  more  comfortable,  for  I  am  weary  of  it.' 

"  ^You  ask  what  is  easy,'  replied  the  Spirit ; 
and  thereupon  he  gave  the  human  being  beau- 
tiful cities,  with  streets  that  were  sometimes 
clean,  and  police  departments  that  were  occa- 
sionally efficient.  He  gave  him  handsome 
houses  with  modern  plumbling  and  electric 
lights,  and  a  thousand  other  things  that  made 
life  comfortable. 

"  'Now,'  said  the  Spirit,  'do  you  wish  for 
anything  more?  for  you  have  but  to  ask  and 
I  will  give  it  to  you.' 

"  'I  should  wish,'  replied  the  human  being. 


140    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

^that  my  business  life  was  less  exacting  and 
more  comfortable/ 

"  ^That,  too,  is  easy/  answered  the  Spirit ; 
and  thereupon  he  gave  the  human  being  tele- 
phones and  telegraphs,  railroads  and  steam- 
ships. 

"And  after  this  the  human  being  asked  that 
his  pleasures  be  made  more  comfortable,  and 
thereupon  the  Spirit  gave  him  fireproof 
theaters  and  comic  operas,  motor  cars  and 
yachts. 

"Then  again  the  Spirit  asked,  ^Do  you  still 
desire  more?'  and  the  human  being  replied, 
^ Yes ;  make  my  religion  more  comfortable.' 

"  ^That  is  simplicity  itself,'  replied  the 
Spirit;  and  thereupon  he  gave  the  human  be- 
ing magnificent  churches,  good  preachers,  and 
twenty-minute  sermons. 

"  ^And  now,'  asked  the  Spirit,  ^are  you  sat- 
isfied at  last?  Or  is  there  something  yet  lack- 
ing to  your  happiness?' 

"  ^ Yes,'  answered  the  human  being ;  'my 
conscience  troubles  me.  Make  that  comfort- 
able.' 

"  'That  is  the  easiest  thing  of  all,'  said  the 
Spirit;  and  thereupon  he  did  away  with  the 
personal  devil  and  gave  the  human  being  an 
easy-going  summer  and  a  hell  that  made  a 
comfortable  winter  resort. 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  WORLD  141 

"At  that  the  human  being  feU  back  into  his 
easy-chair  and  remarked,  "Really,  my  dear 
Spirit,  you  have  made  religion  so  comfortable 
that  I  shall  hardly  need  think  of  it,'  and  he 
buried  himself  in  the  Sunday  newspaper. 

"As  for  the  Spirit,  he  began  to  float  out  of 
the  window. 

**  ^Where  are  you  going?'  asked  the  human 
being. 

"  ^To  see  my  father,'  said  the  Spirit.  'He  is 
dying.' 

"  ^And  who  is  your  father?' 

"  *The  Spirit  of  Nobility,'  replied  the  Spirit 
of  Modern  Progress.    ^He  is  on  his  last  legs.'  " 

The  Church  is  challenged  to  march  with  the 
army  of  modern  civilization  which  is  sweeping 
over  the  Oriental  world.  That  civilization  is 
destroying  the  civilization  of  the  past,  and  the 
Church  is  challenged  out  of  its  destruction  to 
gather  the  best  possessions  of  its  life  that 
the  world  may  be  the  gainer.  "It  is  a  dan- 
gerous work,"  said  Lord  Cromer,  on  his  return 
from  Egypt,  "politically,  socially,  and  morally 
to  trifle  with  the  religious  beliefs  of  a  whole 
nation.  European  civilization  destroys  re- 
ligion in  the  Orient  without  substituting  an- 
other in  its  place.  It  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  the  code  of  Christian  morality  on 
which  European  civilization  is  based  can  be 


142    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

disassociated  from  the  teachings  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion."  The  Christian  Church  does 
not  believe  that  it  can,  and,  furthermore,  it 
believes  that  because  God  has  been  working  in 
all  the  life  of  the  Orient,  and  the  people  of 
the  Orient  are  God's  people  to-day,  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  which  has  created  its  own 
life,  is  as  truly  meant  to  take  up  and  finish 
God's  work  in  the  Orient  as  it  was  to  do  his 
work  in  the  Occident.  It  hears  his  voice  in  the 
command  of  Jesus  that  it  is  to  go  and  disciple 
all  nations;  and  its  summons  to  its  own  young 
people  is  to  give  themselves  to  that  task  with 
an  eagerness  of  hope  and  an  earnestness  of 
consecration  which  is  worthy  of  the  new  cen- 
tury, and  will  be  the  answer  of  their  hearts  to 
the  summons  of  Christ  to  advance  with  him 
to  his  final  triumph. 


XIII 

THE  WINNING  OF  THE  BEST 

*'0  Lord  Jehovah,  thou  hast  begun  to  show  thy  servant 
thy  greatness,  and  thy  strong  hand:  .  .  .  Let  me 
go  over,  I  pray  thee,  and  see  the  good  land  that  is 
beyond  the  Jordan." — Deuteronomy  3.  24,  25. 

This  is  the  pathetic  cry  of  a  successful  but 
brokenhearted  man.  His  life  work  was  ac- 
complished. He  had  successfully  led  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  through  the  forty  years  of  wan- 
dering, and  now  stood  with  them  on  the  border 
of  the  promised  land,  only  to  be  told  by  God 
that  he  was  not  to  enter  with  them.  It  was 
the  long-deferred  but  inevitable  penalty  for 
his  past  shortcoming  and  all  but  forgotten 
earlier  sin. 

His  prayer  is  to  be  in  vain ;  but  it  shows  the 
greatness  of  the  man,  and  marks  the  contrast 
between  him  and  the  people  about  him.  They 
have  been  content  with  the  life  of  the  wilder- 
ness. He  alone  has  had  the  vision  of  the  land 
beyond.  It  was  the  goal  of  his  hopes.  It  had 
fixed  the  strong  purpose  with  which  he  had 
led  them  through  all  the  years  of  their  wander- 
ings.   And  now  when  he  stands  on  the  brink 

143 


144    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

of  Jordan  he  is  not  to  be  permitted  to  cross, 
eager  as  is  his  prayer. 

Some  such  vision  is  in  the  plan  of  God  given 
to  all  of  us.  It  is  intended  to  be  the  inspira- 
tion and  the  call  to  the  best  things  of  life,  as 
it  has  been  the  inspiration  and  call  to  all  who 
have  done  things  in  the  service  of  God  in  the 
past.  We  feel  the  futility  and  emptiness  of 
any  historic  celebration  in  the  life  of  a  nation, 
as  of  great  da^^s  in  the  life  of  the  individual, 
if  they  do  not  create  for  those  concerned  in 
them  ideals  and  set  before  them  goals  of  at- 
tainment which  shall  be  an  abiding  inspira- 
tion. They  are,  however,  merely  landmarks 
of  the  path  in  which  our  daily  life  lies.  They 
serve  to  summon  us  to  inquire  how  far  that 
life  is  guided  by  the  inspiration  of  the  vision 
of  the  future;  how  far  we  are  looking  beyond 
the  things  that  are  seen,  despite  the  abundant 
prosperity  of  the  years  through  which  we  are 
passing  and  the  wide  prevalence  of  conditions 
of  material  comfort. 

There  is  always  more  or  less  unrest  in  many 
hearts — unrest  over  ourselves  and  those  we 
love,  as  to  the  value  and  purpose  of  our  lives 
and  the  worthiness  of  the  ends  to  which  our 
hearts  are  directed.  But  when  we  come  to 
examine  ourselves  we  find  that  but  few  are 
praying  Moses's  prayer.     Whatever  may  lie 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  BEST  145 

beyond,  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  are  more  cou- 
ceroed  with  the  present  than  we  are  with  any- 
thing that  the  future  may  have  in  store.  God 
has  given  us  "exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises."  We  know  there  is  a  spiritual  Ca- 
naan to  be  attained.  But  when  we  read 
Moses'  story  and  stand  in  thought  by  his  side, 
how  little  of  his  thought  takes  possession  of 
us;  and,  whether  we  have  been  successful  or 
not  in  the  things  to  which  we  have  set  our 
hands,  how  little  we  feel  of  the  passionate  out- 
burst of  his  heart,  as  he  proclaimed  his  feeling 
of  the  utter  emptiness  of  all  that  he  had,  and 
all  that  he  had  done,  if  at  last  he  were  not  to 
gain  the  great  blessing  which  God  had  once 
set  before  him  as  the  goal  of  all  his  hope !  How 
little  we  know  of  the  passion  of  the  cry  with 
which  he  appealed  to  all  that  God  had  done 
for  him  in  the  past,  the  showing  of  his  great- 
ness and  his  strong  hand  in  his  behalf,  only 
to  sweep  it  all  aside  as  he  pleaded  for  what 
now  he  was  not  to  see,  the  good  land  that  is 
beyond  the  Jordan ! 

As  we  pause  to  ask  why  it  is  that  we  are 
so  easily  contented,  we  are  reminded  that  the 
method  by  which  we  have  attained  so  much  of 
religion  as  we  have  has  been  an  easy  one.  Pos- 
sessions are  generally  valued  according  to 
what  they  have  cost.     What  is  lightly  won  is 


146    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

lightly  held.  We  live  in  a  time  when  Chris- 
tianity is  the  accepted  faith.  Most  of  us  were 
brought  up  in  Christian  homes,  or  at  least 
have  always  lived  in  a  Christian  community. 
Such  religion  as  we  have  has  come  to  us,  as 
Dogberry  says  in  the  play,  as  reading  and 
writing  do,  ^^by  nature."  We  take  it  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course.  We  have  not  had  to  struggle 
and  fight  for  it  as  many  have  done,  and  we 
know  little  of  the  meaning  of  sacrifice  either 
to  get  or  to  maintain  it. 

The  result  is  that  we  do  not  value  those  par- 
ticular things  for  which  religion  stands,  and 
which  it  holds  out  to  us  as  its  best  gifts,  as 
we  would  have  valued  them  under  other  con- 
ditions; and  the  effect  of  this  easy  possession 
is  morally  w^eakening,  according  to  the  law  of 
the  physical  life  and  of  nature.  There  we  find 
what  we  know  as  the  law  of  survival.  There 
attainment,  and  growth,  even  existence,  de- 
pends upon  struggle.  When  that  necessity 
ceases  degeneracy  follows,  and  then  decay  and 
death.  New  teachings  of  theology  or  of  ethics, 
so  far  as  they  make  attainment  of  religion  and 
of  morals  easy,  play  havoc  with  character. 
In  comparison  with  the  material  things  which 
life  offers  as  rewards  for  strenuous  efforts, 
success  in  business,  wealth,  luxury,  power, 
such  attainment  has  but  a  slight  hold  on  us. 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  BEST  147 

These  things  we  have  contended  for  in  the 
arena  or  the  market,  where  the  crowd  contests 
every  prize  and  challenges  every  ambition. 
Each  has  cost  us  all  that  we  had  to  put  into  it 
of  devotion  and  courage,  our  every  thought 
and  unhesitating  self-denial.  When  it  is  won, 
of  course,  we  value  it.  We  seize  it  with  both 
hands.  We  suffer  it  to  fill  for  us  the  entire 
horizon.  What  wonder  that  under  such  con- 
ditions the  unattained  in  religion  is  the  un- 
real, and  the  visions  of  any  land  of  promise 
are  but  the  shadowy  substance  of  a  dream ! 

Furthermore,  the  common  characteristic  of 
the  Christian  life  to-day  is  contentment  with 
so  much  of  religion  as  we  have.  The  ready 
response  to  the  appeal  to  strive  for  the  higher 
and  better  things,  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  is : 
"O,  we  are  not  saints.  We  are  just  average 
Christians.  Those  things  are  all  very  well, 
and  doubtless  mean  much  to  some  people,  but 
they  are  not  for  us."  We  forget  that  "saint'' 
is  the  New  Testament  term  for  all  Christians. 
By  so  much  as  they  regard  themselves  as  fol- 
lowers of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  bear  his 
name,  in  the  New  Testament  they  are  ad- 
dressed as  saints,  no  less  than  brethren,  and 
beloved.  We  have  no  right,  then,  to  limit  that 
word  to  mark  the  spiritual  gifts  of  the  few,  or 
the  possibilities  of  spiritual  life  set  here  and 


148    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

there  before  some  exceptional  child  of  God. 
To  speak  of  "average  Christians"  means  to 
lower  the  standards  of  our  own  possible  at- 
tainment, as  in  the  trade  unions,  when  an 
average  is  fixed  which  depreciates  and  mini- 
mizes possibilities  of  efficiency,  and  is  to  rob 
the  Christian  of  ambition  and  to  deprive  the 
religious  life  of  its  sweetest  joys. 

That  this  is  a  widespread  and  prevalent  con- 
dition may  be  readily  shown.  For  example, 
consider  how  easily  we  content  ourselves  with 
our  religious  knowledge.  Great  questions  are 
in  the  air  to-day.  They  concern  God,  and  the 
Bible,  and  heaven,  and  hell,  and  revelation,  and 
immortality  itself;  and  they  are  thoroughgo- 
ing, attacking  the  very  foundations  and  ques- 
tioning the  actual  existence  of  the  great  revela- 
tions upon  which  religion  and  the  hopes  of  the 
soul  depend.  But  how  little  interest  they 
awaken  compared  with  other  questions,  social, 
economic,  political.  In  these,  even  in  their 
most  transient  and  superficial  forms,  it  is  very 
easy  at  any  time  and  almost  anywhere  to 
awaken  interest,  to  gather  an  audience,  to  mo- 
nopolize conversation,  or  to  arouse  heated  dis- 
cussion. 

Think  of  the  questions  concerning  which  the 
talk  of  the  day  is  most  abundant,  suffrage  and 
taxation  and  party  politics  and  social  ambi- 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  BEST  149 

tions.  It  would  be  easy  to  extend  the  list  in- 
definitely. But  in  the  great  things  of  religion 
and  of  the  deeper  life  of  man,  how  much  is 
waiting  to  be  known,  and  how  much  depends 
on  the  views  that  men  take  of  these  things! 
The  centuries  have  been  shaped  by  the  doc- 
trines that  men  have  held  concerning  them  in 
the  past.  No  influence  is  comparable  to  them 
in  molding  the  lives  of  the  multitude  of  indi- 
vidual men  and  women. 

Think  of  the  power  exercised  in  the  past  by 
such  doctrines  as  that  of  the  inspiration  and 
verbal  authority  of  the  Bible,  or  of  the  sov- 
ereignty of  God,  or  of  predestination  and  elec- 
tion, of  original  sin  and  total  depravity,  of  the 
authority  of  the  Church,  or  of  great  systems, 
like  Calvinism.  Harnack  has  lately  said  that 
the  Western  world.  Catholics  and  Protestants 
alike,  are  thinking  the  thoughts  of  Augustine, 
the  great  formulator  of  the  earlier  Christian 
doctrines,  and  speaking  his  words  to-day. 
Then  turn  to  the  newer  doctrines,  the  higher 
criticism,  the  immanence  of  God,  evolution, 
a  monistic  philosophy,  and  all  views  that  have 
been  held  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Where  will  you  match  them  with  any 
influence  in  the  life  of  men  comparable  for 
power?  And  yet  the  great  mass  of  Christian 
men  are  content,  not  simply  not  to  know  what 


150    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

is  true  and  what  is  false  concerning  these 
great  teachings,  but  not  to  care  and  not  to 
inquire. 

Consider  also  how  content  we  are  with  such 
spiritual  attainment  as  we  may  happen  to 
possess.  We  are  Christians.  Yes.  We  hold 
the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  and  rejoice  in  the 
assurance  of  forgiveness  of  sins  and  the  hope 
of- heaven;  and,  holding  this,  we  go  about  our 
business  with  little  further  concern.  We  say, 
"Many  things  were  for  me  settled  long  ago, 
and  I  do  not  bother  myself  further  about 
them."  But  compare  PauPs  attitude.  "The 
excellency,"  that  is,  the  fullness,  "of  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord,"  is  something 
in  comparison  with  which  he  says,  "I  count 
all  things  but  dross."  That  is,  he  will  give 
up  everything  if  only  he  may  attain  to  it.  For 
he  says:  "Not  that  I  have  already  obtained, 
or  am  already  made  perfect:  but  I  press  on, 
if  so  be  that  I  may  lay  hold  on  that  for  which 
also  I  was  laid  hold  on  by  Christ  Jesus.  Breth- 
ren, I  count  not  myself  yet  to  have  laid  hold : 
but  one  thing  I  do,  forgetting  the  things  which 
are  behind,  and  stretching  forward  to  the 
things  which  are  before,  I  press  on  toward  the 
goal  unto  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus."  Imagine  Paul  set  alongside 
of  Moses  and  told  as  Moses  was  that  he  was 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  BEST  151 

not  permitted  to  go  forward !  Is  it  imaginable 
that  he  would  have  uttered  any  other  cry  than 
that  which  burst  from  Moses's  heart?  Com- 
pare with  it  our  indifference,  and  say  if  it 
ought  not  to  be  a  revelation  as  to  the  real  sig- 
nificance of  the  contentment  concerning  our 
spiritual  attainments  with  which  we  jog  on. 

Consider  also  our  general  attitude  toward 
Christian  service.  How  constantly  we  find  on 
our  lips  the  answer,  "I  am  too  busy" !  Every 
day  brings  us  abundant  excuse.  Life  is  so 
full.  Business  is  so  pressing.  We  have  so 
many  engagements.  We  get  so  tired.  Of 
course,  we  are  not  able  to  engage  in  much  that 
is  w^orthy  to  be  called  definite  Christian  serv- 
ice. We  delight  to  think,  and  we  think  prop- 
erly, that  the  Christian's  daily  life  may  be, 
and  in  many  cases  doubtless  is,  his  true  serv- 
ice. If  God  inhabits  the  praises  of  Israel,  as 
the  psalmist  sings,  surely  he  does  not  find  the 
honest,  faithful  life  of  his  children  a  matter 
of  unconcern  to  himself,  or  in  many  respects 
alien  to  his  thought. 

We  talk  much  of  our  unconscious  influence, 
and  doubtless  it  is  of  high  value.  We  thank 
God  for  it.  We  may  well  pray  that  it  may  in- 
crease, and  that  we  may  be  helped  to  live  lives 
which  will  make  the  appeal  to  it  both  sincere 
and  in  some  degree  worthy  of  our  profession. 


152    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

"Example  speaks  louder  than  words."  That 
is  true.  But  the  contrast  is  not  between  ex- 
ample and  words.  It  is  between  that  kind  of 
service  which  costs  us  something  and  that 
which  does  not.  That  tribute  to  Christ  to 
which  with  some  justice  we  may  apply  "tak- 
ing up  our  cross  daily  and  following  him": 
how  little  there  is  of  it  in  an  easy-going,  luxuri- 
ous Christian's  life  of  to-day !  And  how  much 
there  is  in  the  pressure  under  which  we  all  are 
of  the  constant  excuse  of  our  being  too  busy 
with  other  things,  or  unprepared,  or  not  hav- 
ing strength,  because  we  have  used  the  strength 
up  on  other  things!  When  the  old  Puritan 
preacher,  John  Eliot,  was  on  his  deathbed,  a 
friend  called  to  see  him  and  found  a  little 
Indian  child  by  his  bedside  being  taught  by  the 
dying  man  to  read.  The  friend  protested  that 
in  such  an  hour  the  sick  man  might  be  re- 
lieved from  the  burden  of  such  a  task,  and  his 
answer  was,  "God  has  left  me  just  strength 
enough  to  teach  this  child  his  letters." 

God  is  giving  us  as  a  nation  many  a  new 
lesson.  Not  the  least  of  these  is  that  as  a 
result  of  the  Spanish  War  our  self-centered 
national  life  has  been  broken  up.  We  were 
largely  a  hermit,  if  not  an  unchristian,  nation, 
so  far  as  international  affairs  were  concerned. 
We  washed  our  hands  of  responsibility  for  the 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  BEST  153 

rest  of  the  world.  The  outer  world  was  for  us 
merely  "a  foil  to  the  single  blessedness  of 
American  conditions."  "Yankee  boasting'' 
was  a  far  too  real  expression  of  the  self-suffi- 
ciency of  our  national  life.  To-day  the  old 
provincialism  and  disdain,  the  utter  absorp- 
tion in  our  material  prosperity  and  super- 
abundant strength,  has  been  disturbed.  We 
now  find,  whether  we  will  or  not,  that  we  have 
to  face  new  duties  and  new  responsibilities. 
We  must  shape  our  policies,  both  internal  and 
external,  with  regard  to  the  world  at  large, 
and  even  to  the  interests  of  other  nations, 
great  and  small.  We  may  be  sharply  chal- 
lenged at  any  time  for  our  doings,  and  may 
be  made  to  suffer  commercially  and  in  our 
good  repute.  We  must  now  advance  on  the 
way  that  leads  to  the  land  of  promise  that 
lies  beyond.  We  must  cross  a  Jordan  which 
divides  the  old  condition  from  the  new  as 
really  as  the  river  divided  the  wilderness  of 
the  promised  land  for  the  children  of  Israel. 

Compare  this  with  our  personal  life.  The 
call  to  us  is  to  recognize  similar  conditions. 
Expanding  business  does  not  mean  expanding 
men.  Great  wealth  now  so  widely  diffused, 
great  business  opportunities  now  within  the 
reach  of  so  many,  the  abundant  life  now  open- 
ing to  all  in  every  realm  of  human  occupation. 


154    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

is  not  to  be  our  excuse  from  doing  the  will  of 
God,  or  to  close  our  eyes  to  the  vision  of  those 
spiritual  attainments  and  Christian  duties 
which  God  holds  out  as  constituting  the  real 
land  of  promise,  to  win  which  life  is  really 
given  to  us.  A  growing  man  is  God's  greatest 
achievement.  Up  to  this  the  long  process  of 
nature  has  led,  a  man  made  in  the  image  of 
God,  endowed  with  mind  and  heart  and  will,  a 
man  possessing  an  immortal  soul,  capable  of 
thinking  God's  thoughts,  of  responding  to 
God's  love,  of  growing  into  the  divine  likeness, 
of  playing  a  man's  part  in  God's  universe. 

God  needs  our  help  to  secure  this  result. 
The  work  is  to  be  done,  and  done  now  in  the 
life  in  which  we  are  living  and  in  such  condi- 
tions as  those  which  are  about  us;  for  God  in 
his  wisdom  has  placed  us  here  with  the  possi- 
bilities to  which  he  has  shaped  us.  It  was  for 
us  living  this  life  that  the  Lord  prayed,  not 
that  we  might  be  taken  out  of  the  world,  but 
that  we  might  be  kept  from  the  evil,  and  that 
in  this  life,  with  our  weaknesses  and  our  temp- 
tations, we  might  still  be  sanctified,  that  is, 
upbuilt  and  perfected  in  the  truth.  The  con- 
ditions of  success  and  of  possibility  are  varied 
and  important,  but,  after  all,  these  conditions, 
of  which  we  make  so  much,  are  largely  ex- 
ternal, and  externals  have  only  a  secondary; 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  BEST  155 

place  in  the  work  that  God  has  for  us  to  do. 
One  says,  "If  I  were  rich!''  but  the  rich  man 
is  generally  self-sufiBcient,  and  that  self-suffi- 
ciency is  one  of  the  most  effective  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  doing  the  will  of  God.  Another 
says,  "If  I  were  not  rich !''  but  the  poor  man 
finds  himself  so  absorbed  in  the  effort  to  pro- 
vide for  daily  necessities  that  he  has  little 
heart  or  thought  for  anything  else.  Paul  said, 
*'I  have  learned,  in  whatsoever  state  I  am, 
therein  to  be  content'';  that  is,  I  may  be  free, 
not  to  be  content  with  myself,  or  that  to  which 
I  have  attained,  or  with  that  with  which  I  am 
now  so  wholly  engaged,  but  content  to  use 
life  as  it  comes  to  me,  to  do  the  will  of  God. 
As  Edward  Bowen,  of  Harrow,  used  to  put  it, 
"to  take  sweet  and  bitter  as  sweet  and  bitter 
come,  and  to  play  the  game !" 

The  most  important  truth  to-day  is  not  the 
great  new  truth  of  human  brotherhood,  greater 
and  newer  in  the  thought  of  men  to-day  than 
it  ever  was  in  the  past,  and  not  the  power  that 
lies  in  organization,  a  power  to  the  realization 
of  which  the  world  has  only  at  last  come. 
Rather  it  is  this,  that  the  chief  business  of  life, 
the  really  vital  things  in  life,  like  the  meet- 
ing of  the  sexes,  the  rearing  of  the  young,  and 
the  forming  of  character,  must  be  left  to  or- 
dinary men  to  do  for  themselves,  even  if  they 


156    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

do  them  ill.  In  other  words,  that  the  real  re- 
sponsibility for  what  we  do,  or  what  we  do  not, 
is  not  to  be  determined  by  our  circumstances, 
but  is  determined  by  our  purpose. 

We  are  "Avorkers  together  with  God,"  and 
the  glory  of  the  life  that  he  has  given  to  us 
is  that  he  has  intrusted  us  with  this  great  re- 
sponsibility of  directing  that  life  in  all  its 
deep  essentials  ourselves.  Every  appeal,  there- 
fore, that  he  makes  to  us  to  come  up  higher  in 
our  conception  of  truth,  in  our  attainment  of 
character,  in  the  efficiency  of  our  service,  in 
our  sure  hold  of  his  promises,  in  our  actual 
possession  of  spiritual  life — in  short,  in  our 
faith  and  in  our  fellowshi]3  with  himself — is 
addressed  to  that  in  us  by  virtue  of  which  we 
are  children  of  God.  And  when  that  appeal 
awakens  in  any  human  heart  a  response,  and 
on  any  lip  is  heard  a  cry  like  that  of  Moses, 
that  the  Lord  will  not  suffer  us  to  drop  behind, 
but  will  make  it  possible  for  us  to  press  for- 
ward to  the  actual  possession  of  the  land  of 
promise  that  lies  beyond,  then,  and  then  only, 
is  the  purpose  of  God  with  his  child  attained. 


XIV 

THE  TEST  OF  THE  JORDAN 

"They  said,  If  we  have  found  favor  in  thy  sight,  let 
this  land  be  given  unto  thy  servants  for  a  possession; 
bring  us  not  over  the  Jordan." — Numbees  32.  5. 

To  catch  the  significance  of  this  text  we 
must  set  beside  it  Moses's  pleading  petition 
that  he  might  be  permitted  to  go  over  the  Jor- 
dan, which  the  Lord  had  refused  him.  We 
have  the  picture  of  the  man  of  God  asking  for 
that  from  which  the  people  about  him  begged 
to  be  excused.  He  was  a  man  with  a  vision. 
They  are  the  men  without. 

Their  request  was  perfectly  natural.  The 
narrator  of  the  incident  tells  that  the  country 
about  them  was  "a  land  for  cattle."  And  as 
cattle-raising  was  their  occupation,  naturally 
they  said,  ^'Bring  us  not  over  Jordan.  This 
land  is  good  enough  for  us.  Why  should  we 
not  be  content?  Why  should  we  give  up  the 
immediate  tangible  good  for  possible  advan- 
tages, only  to  be  obtained  by  hazardous  ad- 
venture, and  in  the  face  of  unknown  difficul- 
ties?" 

The  question  suggested  by  the  text  is  not 

157 


158    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

simply  of  Reuben  and  Gad,  the  two  tribes  that 
pleaded  it,  but  of  us  who  to-day  read  the  story. 
It  changes  its  form,  but  it  has  its  old  signifi- 
cance. Why  not  exercise  our  own  judgment 
and  order  our  lives  by  common  sense?  Why 
not  be  content  where  we  are  and  with  such 
things  as  we  have?  Why  disturb  ourselves 
over  what  lies  in  the  future  or  what  is  unat- 
tained?  Doubtless  there  is  a  large  realm  of 
possible  attainment  in  matters  of  religion  that 
is  opened  to  us  in  the  Bible,  matters  of  spirit- 
ual attainment  and  apprehension  of  the  things 
of  God  and  fellowship  with  him,  of  growth  in 
Christian  character,  with  endless  possibilities 
of  Christian  service.  Undoubtedly  there  is  in 
these  things  what  corresponds  to  "the  goodly 
land  beyond  the  Jordan,''  of  the  children  of 
Israel.  But  the  troublesome  Jordan  runs  be- 
tween, and  there  are  many  difficulties,  seen 
and  unseen.  Why  may  we  not  be  content  as 
we  are?  This  is  a  particularly  good  country 
that  lies  about  us.  It  meets  very  satisfactorily 
our  present  needs.  We  have  business  and 
friends  and  some  choice  of  pleasure,  plenty  to 
do  that  is  worth  doing,  and  plenty  to  enjoy. 
Why  worry  ourselves  over  the  unattained? 
Saint  Paul  did,  it  is  true,  and  made  a  hard 
time  for  himself.  And  the  Church  is  continu- 
ally exhorting  us  to  be  up  and  doing  in  other 


THE  TEST  OF  THE  JORDAN  159 

directions ;  and  from  time  to  time  the  preacher 
makes  us  more  or  less  uncomfortable  because 
we  do  not  do  differently.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
we  can  get  along  very  well  as  we  are,  having 
a  quiet  conscience,  living  a  reasonable  life, 
and  withal  becoming  increased  with  goods. 
This  land  is  "good  for  cattle."  It  supplies  the 
things  we  need,  and  we  have  not  begun  to  ex- 
haust its  resources.  Why  can  we  not,  as  the 
Lord's  people,  do  his  will,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  make  it  very  comfortable  for  ourselves 
by  staying  where  we  are? 

Thus  the  parable  of  the  text  states  more  or 
less  graphically  the  problem  of  Christians 
everywhere.  It  is  by  no  means  a  hypothetical 
question,  but  one  which  all  must  recognize  as 
obviously  practical,  and  one  that  perhaps 
should  be  regarded  as  pressing.  Let  us  seek 
the  answer  which  the  narrative  suggests. 

It  is  clear  from  the  story  that  the  children 
of  Reuben  and  of  Gad  did  not  see  that  it  was 
important  to  God  that  they  went  on.  They 
were  a  part  of  the  larger  company  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  with  whom  God  was  undertak- 
ing a  definite  work.  We  believe  that  God  has 
a  plan  for  each  life,  but  we  fail  to  see  that  that 
plan  is  wrapped  up  in  his  plan  for  his  king- 
dom. God  was  leading  Israel  for  a  purpose. 
The  revelation  of  God  to  the  world  was  in  it. 


160    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

Conditions  were  to  be  created  in  which  it  was 
to  be  possible  for  God  to  bring  in  his  kingdom 
among  men,  and  the  command  was,  "Every 
armed  man  of  you  will  pass  over  the  Jordan 
before  Jehovah,  until  he  hath  driven  out  his 
enemies  from  before  him."  If  they  stayed  be- 
hind the  plan  would  fail.  As  Moses  says,  "For 
if  ye  turn  away  from  after  him,  he  will  yet 
again  leave  Israel  in  the  wilderness;  and  ye 
will  destroy  all  his  people.'' 

It  is  of  consequence  to  God  if  you  or  I  stay 
behind,  or  fall  out  on  the  way,  or  fail  to  do 
our  part  as  he  sets  it  before  us  in  the  progress 
of  his  kingdom.  We  reply  that  this  seems  to 
stake  too  much  upon  us.  What  possible  dif- 
ference can  it  make  in  the  plan  of  God,  or  in 
the  accomplishment  of  his  great  purposes  in 
the  world,  if  so  insignificant  an  individual  fails 
to  go  forward  in  Christian  service,  or  in  the 
attainment  of  spiritual  growth?  Among  the 
countless  millions,  not  simply  of  humanity, 
but  of  the  great  multitude  who  are  eventually 
to  make  up  the  company  of  the  redeemed,  one 
more  or  less  is  certainly  unimportant.  And 
in  the  midst  of  the  great  achievements  of  God 
through  their  service  in  the  redemption  of  the 
world  the  service  of  one  who  is  but  as  the 
least  of  them  cannot  count  for  much.  It  may 
possibly  be  a  matter  of  some  importance  to 


THE  TEST  OF  THE  JORDAN  161 

myself,  but  it  cannot  signify  in  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

But  we  can  easily  see  how  it  works.  Sup- 
pose Moses,  when  an  exile  and  a  herdsman 
in  Midian,  had  not  heeded  the  call  of  God,  or 
later  had  not  ventured  to  lead  the  Israelites 
out  of  Egypt;  suppose  Abraham  had  not  gone 
up  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees;  or  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  had  been  content  not  to  leave  their 
refuge  in  Holland;  or  David  Livingstone  had 
not  plunged  into  the  heart  of  Africa;  or  Han- 
nington  had  not  gone  to  his  death  at  the  hands 
of  the  Massai ;  or  the  first  missionaries  had  not 
gone  to  Japan  just  at  the  time  when  the  move- 
ment for  the  new  Japan  of  to-day  began :  how 
different  the  history  of  the  world  would  be! 
Because  we  are  God's  children;  because  he 
is  in  truth  our  heavenly  Father,  and  not  a 
mere  Omnipotent  Creator,  we  must  believe 
that  we  are  important  to  God,  and  that  our 
doing  or  not  doing  has  its  part  in  the  advance 
of  his  kingdom.  This  persuasion  is  essential 
to  the  conception  of  the  love  of  God  and  to 
the  redemptive  work  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
By  so  much  as  we  regard  ourselves  Christians, 
on  the  basis  of  what  Christ  has  done  in  seeking 
and  finding  us  and  redeeming  us  unto  him- 
self, we  must  believe  that  it  was  done  for  a 
divine  purpose,  and  that  that  purpose  is  an 


162    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

integral  part  of  the  ultimate  plan  of  God;  so 
that  when  we  come  to  discuss  the  question  of 
personal  Christian  growth,  or  of  our  training 
for  service,  or  of  choosing  our  life  career,  from 
the  smallest  question  to  the  largest  that  af- 
fects the  character  that  we  are  to  form,  the 
kind  of  life  that  we  are  to  live,  or  the  particu- 
lar service  that  we  are  to  render,  nothing  is 
too  insignificant  to  be  considered  in  its  rela- 
tions to  what  God  desires  us  to  do,  or  what 
is  really  important  in  his  sight  and  in  his 
great  purposes.  So  far  from  this  being  an  ab- 
surd conception,  it  is  what  gives  dignity  to 
life,  and  alone  serves  as  the  sufficient  inter- 
pretation of  the  true  meaning  of  life,  with  its 
inexhaustible  opportunities  and  continual  call 
for  choices,  the  future  outcome  of  w^hich  we 
cannot  see,  but  the  immediate  bearing  of 
which  upon  Christian  character  and  Christian 
service,  and  often  of  direct  Christian  testi- 
mony, we  cannot  fail  to  recognize. 

It  is  also  evident  that  these  children  of 
Reuben  and  of  Gad  did  not  see  that  service 
of  our  brethren  may  be  a  measure  of  service  of 
God.  Moses  at  once  presses  this  upon  them: 
"Shall  your  brethren  go  to  the  war,  and  shall 
ye  sit  here?"  God  would  not  accept  their  ex- 
pressions of  gratitude  or  their  recognition  of 
his  providential  care  as  a  substitute.     Moses 


THE  TEST  OF  THE  JORDAN  163 

sweeps  away  their  words  to  this  purport  as 
of  no  consequence  in  comparison  with  their 
prayer  to  be  suffered  to  remain  behind. 

We  give  money  to  build  houses  of  w^orship, 
or  to  establish  or  support  notable  philan- 
thropies. There  is  something  more  to  be  done. 
There  is  a  more  compelling  law  than  the  in- 
stinct of  worship  or  of  philanthropy,  namely, 
the  law  of  love.  Nature  has  suggestions  of  it 
even  in  the  presence  of  a  merciless  force  de- 
fined for  us  as  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest — that  is,  of  what  is  best  adapted  to  sur- 
vive in  the  great  struggle  of  existence.  There 
is  provision  in  nature  itself  for  the  survival 
of  the  best.  Everywhere  there  is  indication 
of  what  we  recognize  as  social  instinct,  of 
mother  love,  of  sex  relationship,  involving 
sacrifice  and  personal  surrender  in  order  to 
secure  the  life  or  the  well-being  of  some  other. 
Only  so  are  the  highest  forms  of  nature  ob- 
tained. In  man  this  has  become  the  compelling 
law,  both  of  society  and  of  religion.  "He  that 
loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  how 
can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen?" 

God  aims  at  the  best.  Only  in  obedience  to 
this  law  does  the  best  become  possible  in  God's 
universe.  No  simple  survival  of  the  selfish,  or 
the  self-sufficient,  or  the  strongest,  or  the  most 
cunning,  or  the  best  adapted  to  the  environ- 


164    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

ment,  will  answer  the  purpose  of  God.  He 
will  have  only  the  worthiest,  only  that  ulti- 
mately which  approaches  nearest  to  himself, 
which  is  best  fitted  to  represent  himself,  his 
wisdom,  his  character,  his  love.  No  man  can 
live  to  himself  and  hope  to  attain  to  this. 
The  moment  a  man  discovers  that  there  is  an 
ideal  of  life  and  character  after  which  he  has 
to  strive,  and  everyone  is  capable  of  this,  he 
discovers  that  he  needs  the  help  of  his  fellows 
in  his  effort  to  reach  that  ideal.  Unless  there 
is  that  mutual  help,  not  only  does  he  fail  to 
attain  the  goal,  but  the  community  of  which 
he  is  a  part  also  drops  to  a  lower  level.  It 
can  only  attain  to  what  are  lower  forms  of 
character.  Therefore,  the  appeal  of  the  sick, 
and  of  the  poor,  and  of  the  social  needs  of  the 
community  as  a  whole,  becomes  essential  to 
the  progress  both  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
community;  and,  therefore,  God  requires  that 
this  appeal  be  recognized,  as  he  has  so  consti- 
tuted society  that  the  appeal  shall  be  made. 
A  man  cannot  go  about  his  business  content 
with  what  he  possesses,  or  what  he  has  to  en- 
joy, while  he  is  indifferent  to  the  needs  of  his 
fellow  men,  and  at  the  same  time  regard  him- 
self as  a  worthy  servant  of  God.  The  taking 
up  one's  cross  daily  and  following  Jesus 
Christ,  which  is  the  condition  of  discipleship, 


THE  TEST  OF  THE  JORDAN  165 

involves  looking  not  upon  one's  own  things, 
but  upon  the  things  of  others,  in  order  that 
the  love  of  God,  which  has  taken  possession 
of  us,  may  go  forth  from  us  to  the  blessing  of 
others.  "Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and 
so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ,''  is  the  command  of 
universal  application. 

Those  men  of  Reuben  and  of  Gad  also  failed 
to  see  that  even  the  possession  of  the  things 
upon  which  they  had  set  their  hearts  turned 
on  their  service  of  their  brethren.  Moses  said 
to  the  people,  "If  the  children  of  Gad  and  the 
children  of  Reuben  will  pass  with  you  over  the 
Jordan,  every  man  that  is  armed  to  battle, 
before  Jehovah,  and  the  land  shall  be  subdued 
before  you;  then  ye  shall  give  them  the  land 
of  Gilead  for  a  possession."  We  can  easily 
understand  why  a  Christian  must  recognize 
his  duty  to  his  brethren  as  the  condition  of 
his  entering  into  the  privileges  which  are 
properly  his  own.  Such  service  brings  the  ap- 
proval of  God  and  peace  in  one's  own  heart,  no 
less  than  it  brings  that  love  of  others  which 
is  the  sweetest  recompense  for  an  unselfish  life. 
It  is  the  surest  path  and  the  widest  door  to 
that  appreciation  and  grateful  memory  which 
are  the  best  reward  of  a  generous  life.  In 
many  places  in  England  one  comes  upon 
statues  of  the  late  Lord  Shaftesbury,  the  man 


166    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

best  known  in  his  generation  for  his  lifelong 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  poor  and  the 
suffering,  the  costermonger  in  the  street  and 
the  women  and  children  working  in  the  mines 
of  Great  Britain.  He  exalted  and  beautified 
the  conception  of  Christian  character,  as  he 
made  its  possible  attainment  more  real  to  the 
men  of  his  generation  and  of  the  Christian 
world. 

Furthermore,  these  men  of  Eeuben  and  of 
Gad  did  not  see  that  penalty  would  ensue  if 
their  prayer  were  granted.  Moses's  rebuke 
was,  "But  if  ye  will  not  do  so" — that  is,  go 
forward  with  your  brethren — "behold,  ye  have 
sinned  against  Jehovah ;  and  be  sure  your  sin 
will  find  you  out."  This  is  the  judgment  pro- 
nounced upon  selfish  indifference  to  others' 
needs.  We  hear  it  constantly  argued  against 
any  doctrine  of  future  punishment  that  it  is 
inconceivable  because  of  the  character  of  God. 
God  is  love;  therefore,  it  is  claimed,  logically 
it  follows  that  that  love  will  never  rest  while 
any  creature  of  God  falls  short  of  happiness, 
or  the  attainment  of  all  that  ever  was  possi- 
ble for  him.  It  is  well  to  remember  that  the 
world  is  not  ordered  by  logic.  There  are  other 
great  forces  and  other  methods  of  arriving 
at  the  truth.  There  is  deeply  planted  within 
us  the  conviction  that  the  moral  law  requires 


THE  TEST  OF  THE  JORDAN  167 

punishment  of  the  transgressor;  that  sin, 
which  is  and  always  must  be  ^^exceeding  sin- 
ful'' in  any  realm  in  which  the  moral  law  shall 
run,  must  be  found  out,  or  brought  to  light, 
and,  being  brought  to  light,  must  encounter 
penalty  which  shall  stand  in  some  adequate 
relation  to  the  sin  itself.  God  cannot  be  mor- 
ally indifferent;  and  in  no  perfect  moral 
character  can  love  supersede  the  demands  of 
justice  and  of  righteousness.  Men  cannot  run 
counter  to  the  purposes  of  God,  or  be  dis- 
obedient to  his  command,  without,  in  his  own 
determined  time  and  measure,  incurring  con- 
sequences. 

Here,  then,  is  our  Jordan.  On  the  one  hand 
are  the  things  about  us — the  life  that  we  are 
living,  the  condition  to  which  we  have  at- 
tained. Beyond  are  the  hard  things,  the  land 
of  promise,  the  work  we  have  not  yet  done,  the 
things  we  have  not  yet  tried.  They  have  not 
the  same  phase  to  all ;  each  has  his  own  place, 
as  he  has  his  own  gifts  and  his  own  opportuni- 
ties, and,  therefore,  his  personal  call  of  God. 
The  great  business  of  life  is  to  find  occupation 
for  oneself,  not  simply  in  determining  the 
career  which  we  shall  enter,  or  the  particular 
work  we  shall  do,  but  also  in  determining 
when  we  shall  be  content,  and  how,  and  when, 
and  how  long  we  shall  strive  for  that  which 


168    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

is  yet  to  be  attained.    Not  to  press  onward  is 
defeat. 

The  blessed  rule  is  that  "if  there  be  first  a 
willing  mind,  it  is  accepted  according  to  that 
a  man  hath,  and  not  according  to  that  he  hath 
not.'^  But  a  willing  mind  will  not  be  content 
until  it  finds  its  opportunity,  and  makes  its 
effort,  and  does  its  best  to  reach  the  goal.  It 
is  sure  to  get  its  hand  upon  its  task  and  does 
not  easily  let  go.  This  is  the  call  of  God  to 
every  Christian.  To  come  up  higher,  to  make 
life  more  profitable,  to  have  larger  joy,  a  richer 
spiritual  experience,  a  more  satisfactory  serv- 
ice, a  closer  fellowship  with  the  Master,  than 
have  yet  been  realized — these  are  the  true 
Christian  goal  and  the  sweetest  Christian  re- 
ward. 


xy 

CHRIST'S  CURE  FOR  "THE  BLUES" 

"And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them.  Go  and  tell 
John  the  things  which  ye  hear  and  see:  the  blind  receive 
their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed, 
and  the  deaf  hear,  and  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  the 
poor  have  good  tidings  preached  to  them.  And  blessed 
is  he,  whosoever  shall  find  no  occasion  of  stumbling  in 
me." — ^Matthew  11.  4-6. 

John  the  Baptist  had  been  arrested  by 
King  Herod  and  was  in  prison.  The  martyr, 
or  criminal,  who  finds  himself  in  prison,  takes 
a  very  different  view  of  things  from  what  he 
did  before.  Courage  and  bravado  fall  off  there. 
John  had  staked  all  on  Jesus.  When  he  saw, 
in  the  crowd  gathered  about  him,  him  on 
w^hom  the  Spirit  of  God  descended,  and  knew 
him  as  the  Messiah,  he  recognized  the  cul- 
mination of  his  own  work.  He  said,  "He  must 
increase,  but  I  must  decrease."  But  how  dif- 
ferent a  Messiah  he  had  proved  to  be  from 
what  John  had  expected !  And  now  that  John 
found  himself  in  prison  it  was  not  strange 
that  doubts  gathered  thick  and  fast. 

We  all  have  similar  experiences.  We  throw 
ourselves  into  some  task.     We  ought  to  see 

169 


170    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

such  and  such  results ;  or  we  ought  to  receive 
such  recognition;  or  we  ought  to  have  the 
health  and  strength  to  complete  our  work; 
or  we  ought  to  have  still  about  us  the  children, 
or  the  friends  for  whom  we  care  or  who  are  to 
assure  our  success;  and,  in  fact,  we  have  en- 
countered very  different  experiences.  Failure 
has  come,  or  disappointment,  or  illness,  or  the 
death  of  those  we  love.  Then  we  doubt  every- 
thing. We  are  querulous  toward  God.  We 
cannot  pray.  We  will  not  attend  church.  Our 
Bible  remains  closed.  We  talk  much  at  ran- 
dom. We  are  not  sure  that  there  is  a  God.  We 
do  not  know  what  we  have  done  to  deserve 
such  treatment.     Religion  is  of  small  use. 

Sometimes  we  are  downcast  and  disap- 
pointed without  knowing  why,  and  the  effect 
is  much  the  same.  The  doctor  says  we  are 
bilious,  or  dyspeptic,  or  have  a  liver.  He  tells 
us  that  fatigue  is  a  poison,  and  we  have 
had  an  overdose.  Our  world  goes  wrong  in 
one  way  or  another,  as  John's  did ;  and  we  are 
"blue."  It  is  a  common  experience.  When 
the  sorrow  is  great,  friends  come  and  sit  by 
our  side  and  talk  to  us,  as  Job's  friends  did, 
and  we  feel  the  same  emptiness  in  their 
words.  When  the  wise  friend  appears  and 
says  nothing,  but  just  takes  our  hand,  or  re- 
mains by  us,  we  are  grateful;  for  we  are  glad 


CHRIST'S  CURE  FOR  "THE  BLUES"      171 

that  he  knows  how  Httle  words  count  in  such 
an  hour.  Even  when,  as  with  Job,  God  an- 
swers, we  look  in  vain,  as  he  did,  for  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  answer.  In  that  wonderful  drama 
Job  found  his  comfort,  not  in  any  divine  ex- 
planation of  his  experiences,  but  in  the  simple 
fact  that  God  was  with  him. 

But  now  day  has  come;  and  when  a  good 
man  is  in  trouble,  as  John  was,  it  is  interest- 
ing to  know  that  he  sends  directly  to  Jesus; 
and  the  chief  value  of  the  record  is  in  the  an- 
swer which  our  Lord  returns  to  him.  For  here 
we  have  Christ's  method  of  dealing  with  peo- 
ple who  are  in  sorrow,  or  are  disappointed 
and  downcast;  a  method  which  may  be  ac- 
cepted as  the  God-given  method  for  all  time. 

Jesus's  message  to  John  is,  "Go  and  tell 
John  the  things  which  ye  hear  and  see:  the 
blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk,  the 
lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  and 
the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  good 
tidings  preached  to  them.  And  blessed  is  he, 
whosoever  shall  find  no  occasion  of  stumbling 
in  me."  He  tells  John  in  a  word  that  all  goes 
on  just  as  it  did  before.  John's  condition  alone 
has  changed.  God's  plan  is  fixed  and  nothing 
has  happened  to  interfere  with  it.  "God's  in 
his  heaven :  all's  right  with  the  world." 

There  is  immense  comfort  to  be  found  in  the 


172    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

mere  steadiness  of  nature.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  Bible  story,  after  the  flood,  the  promise 
was,  "While  the  earth  remaineth,  seedtime 
and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer 
and  winter,  and  day  and  night  shall  not 
cease.''  We  all  know  the  meaning  of  this.  The 
winter  may  be  upon  us,  dark  and  cold  and 
stormy,  but  underneath  the  frost  the  earth  is 
stirring  with  new  life.  The  days  already  are 
lengthening.  The  sun  grows  warm.  The 
rivers  will  soon  be  loosened.  The  robin  will 
soon  be  singing  before  our  door.  The  spring 
is  coming,  all  the  richer  in  its  promise,  all  the 
more  joyous  in  its  beauty,  because  the  winter 
has  preceded  it.  We  have  no  thought  that  the 
springtime  will  fail.  The  night  has  been  dark ; 
but  it  will  not  be  long  before  the  day  dawns 
and  the  night  will  be  forgotten.  Or  we  walk 
at  midnight  under  the  stars,  and  however 
great  our  burden,  or  oppressive  our  sorrow, 
the  stars  speak  to  us  of  comfort.  They  are 
shining  undisturbed,  or  completing  their  ma- 
jestic courses  in  the  heavens.  The  morning 
stars  that  sang  together  at  the  beginning  of 
creation  have  never  changed  their  music  or 
failed  in  their  praises.  Abraham  walked  be- 
neath them  on  the  hills  of  Palestine,  and  God 
talked  with  him  "as  a  man  talketh  with  his 
friend."    And  men  have  heard  God's  voice  and 


CHRIST'S  CURE  FOR  "THE  BLUES"      173 

felt  God's  presence  ever  since,  as  they  also 
have  walked  beneath  the  midnight  stars. 

John  perhaps  could  only  get  a  glimpse  of 
them  from  his  prison  cell,  but  when  the  mes- 
sage came  to  him  he  knew  that  they  were  there, 
and  realized  that  God  had  not  changed,  that 
his  love  was  not  withdrawn,  that  his  child 
and  faithful  servant  was  not  forgotten.  His 
quick  recall  by  Jesus  to  this  great  truth  at 
once  laid  hold  of  him,  and  brought  him  to  him- 
self, and  drove  away  his  "blues,''  and  minis- 
tered to  him  a  new  comfort  and  strength,  as 
it  brought  back  to  him  the  truth  in  which  he 
had  always  lived  and  for  which,  indeed,  he 
was  now  suffering.  This  suffering  itself  be- 
came at  once  a  glad  tribute  to  the  faith  in 
which  he  had  lived.  It  could  not  be  otherwise, 
for  the  faith  was  real,  and  the  foundations 
which  had  been  laid  in  it  were  not  likely  to 
be  disturbed. 

The  message  of  Jesus  brought  also  to  him 
the  prophylactic  of  sympathy.  It  said,  "Lift 
up  your  eyes  and  see  how  many  others  are  in 
trouble.  About  you  is  the  great  world  of  the 
blind  and  the  lame,  the  lepers,  the  deaf,  and 
the  poor.  Even  the  dead  are  in  many  homes, 
and  sorrow  quite  as  great  as  yours  burdens 
a  multitude  of  hearts."  And  as  John  hears 
the  message  he  recognizes  that  Jesus  is  speak- 


174    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

ing  to  him  out  of  his  own  experience ;  for  he  had 
come  to  bear  our  sicknesses  and  carry  our  sor- 
rows, and  he  was  "touched  with  the  feeling  of 
our  infirmities."  He  was  entering  every  day 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  mystery  of  pain, 
and  encountering  more  and  more  heavily  the 
weary  weight  of  all  this  unintelligible  world. 

Instinctively  John  recognizes  this  as  he  re- 
calls the  very  face  of  the  Master  and  remem- 
bers the  prophecies  of  the  Servant  of  God,  who 
w^as  to  be  the  suffering  one,  despised  and  re- 
jected, a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief ;  and  at  once  his  thoughts  are  lifted  above 
himself  and  turned  upon  others,  with  a  life- 
giving  reaction  of  tenderness.  It  is  singular 
that  it  should  be  so — that  power  of  sympathy 
has  to  wait  until  suffering  comes  to  us.  It 
would  seem  that  the  joyous  and  the  strong 
would  be  the  ones  who  would  sympathize  most 
promptly  with  suffering  or  distress,  and  that 
if  the  weak  are  to  be  lifted  up,  those  who  have 
their  own  feet  firmly  planted  are  the  ones  who 
more  effectively  could  minister  to  them.  But 
the  opposite  is  true.  When  one  comes  to  us 
with  words  of  comfort,  and  we  can  reply,  "We 
know  that  you  also  have  suffered,"  at  once  our 
hearts  are  open  to  his  ministration,  and  the 
comfort  he  brings  is  a  true  prophylactic. 

So  we  get  help  ourselves  when  in  our  suffer- 


CHRIST'S  CURE  FOR  "THE  BLUES"      175 

ing  we  can  turn  our  thoughts  or  our  hands  to 
minister  to  others  who  are  in  some  trouble. 
Our  Lord's  message  helped  John  at  once  to  for- 
get himself,  and  when  he  did  that  new  powers 
opened  in  his  own  soul,  which  not  only 
changed  his  view  of  his  situation,  but  filled 
him  with  the  desire  to  be  helpful  to  others. 

The  other  day  a  business  man  died  whose 
name  is  known  in  all  the  land  for  a  most 
blessed  and  successful  philanthropy.  Years 
ago  he  lost  a  beautiful  young  daughter,  his 
only  child.  His  heart  at  once  went  out  to  the 
young  girls  lost  in  a  far  more  distressing  way 
in  our  great  cities ;  and  to-day  "Florence  Crit- 
tenton  Homes''  for  the  rescue  of  fallen  girls, 
extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  are 
the  expression  of  the  power  of  that  sympa- 
thetic heart  comforting  and  restoring  itself 
in  its  blessed  service  of  saving  others. 

Many  years  ago,  when  in  my  student  days  I 
was  in  Paris,  there  was  there  a  famous  oculist 
who  was  also  a  banker.  Years  before  the  sister 
with  whom  he  lived  was  stricken  with  blindness 
which  the  doctors  pronounced  incurable.  He 
was  not  married  and  had  no  one  else  to  love, 
and  could  not  bear  the  thought  that  this  sister 
who  was  so  much  to  him  should  be  left  without 
remedy.  He  therefore  took  up  the  study  of 
medicine  in  the  hours  that  he  could  spare  from 


176     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

his  business,  and  with  such  success  that  he 
became  one  of  the  most  famous  oculists  of  his 
time.  When  I  knew  of  him  he  was  still  giving 
his  mornings  to  his  business,  while  every  after- 
noon he  ministered  to  the  poor  blind  people 
of  Paris  without  price.  One  can  readily  im- 
agine the  wells  of  comfort  that  his  distress 
had  opened  in  his  own  heart,  through  the  new 
power  to  heal  sufferers,  for  all  the  remaining 
years  of  his  life. 

Dr.  Horton,  of  London,  says  that  Mr.  Bryce 
on  a  certain  occasion,  seeing  Mr.  Gladstone  in 
the  House  of  Commons  with  countenance  sad- 
dened by  the  troubles  of  Ireland,  to  divert  his 
thoughts  told  him  that  some  one  had  recently 
discovered  that  Dante  had  in  his  last  years 
been  appointed  at  Eavenna  to  a  lectureship 
which  raised  him  above  the  pinch  of  want. 
Mr.  Gladstone's  face  lit  up  at  once  and  he 
said,  "How  strange  it  is  to  think  that  these 
great  souls  whose  words  are  a  beacon  light  to 
all  the  generations  that  have  come  after  them 
should  have  had  cares  and  anxieties  to  vex 
them  in  their  daily  life,  just  like  the  rest  of 
us  mortals!"  It  was  a  condition  of  their 
power. 

Jesus  summons  John  to  consider  the  needs 
of  others,  that  the  sympathy  thus  awakened 
and  kept  alive  in  his  heart  may  heal  his  own 


CHRIST'S  CURE  FOR  **THE  BLUES"      177 

distress.  But  his  message  contains  still  more 
than  this.  It  testified  that  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  was  coming,  and  God's  work  was  going 
forward  in  the  world.  Here  were  the  signs 
of  it.  They  were  the  same  that  John  had  seen 
and  that  were  foretold  by  the  prophets.  Did 
he  not  recall  the  ancient  testimony  that  the 
Anointed  One  would  come,  proclaiming  that 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  was  upon  him,  as  he 
preached  good  tidings  unto  the  meek,  and 
bound  up  the  broken-hearted,  and  proclaimed 
liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the 
prison  to  them  that  are  bound!  Those  signs 
were  everywhere  to  be  seen,  though  the  Messiah 
appeared  to  him  so  different  from  what  he 
expected.  There  were  no  armies  with  banners 
to  drive  out  the  oppressor  and  to  restore  to 
Israel  her  earthly  kingdom.  But  the  kingdom 
of  God  was  come.  God's  power  is  adequate  to 
the  task.  He  is  working  in  love.  The  sorrows 
of  men  are  his  opportunity.  Trials  and  dis- 
appointments and  loss  do  God's  work  in  bring- 
ing the  world  to  him.  They  give  love  a  chance. 
They  make  hearts  tender  and  joys  sweeter. 
They  enrich  and  ennoble  human  life.  Above 
all,  they  detach  men  from  lower  things  and  in- 
spire them  to  rise  above  themselves,  and  pre- 
pare them  for  the  day  of  Christ's  final  coming. 
The  gospel,  that  is,  "good  tidings  of  God,"  is 


178    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

preached.  Men  are  hearing.  Hearts  are 
opened  to  God,  not  in  spite  of  sorrow,  but  even 
by  means  of  sorrow ;  and  God  is  glorified,  and 
men  are  blessed. 

As  this  message  came  to  John  and  as,  turn- 
ing his  eyes  from  himself,  he  recognized  the 
work  of  Jesus  in  its  deeper  significance,  he 
saw  that  it  was  the  work  of  God,  hastening  his 
day,  as  that  day  had  never  been  hastened  in 
the  past.  How  small  his  trials  must  have 
seemed  in  comparison!  How  completely  the 
"blues"  must  have  been  driven  out  of  his 
heart!  The  darkness  of  the  cell  in  which  he 
was  confined  must  have  been  irradiated  with 
the  glory  of  the  new  day  whose  dawn  he  was 
permitted  to  behold. 

That  vision  of  the  kingdom  is  the  abiding 
one  in  the  Christian  world.  The  light  never 
has  failed  altogether  on  the  mountain  tops, 
dark  as  at  times  have  been  the  shadows  in  the 
valleys.  Persecutions  have  come  and  gone. 
In  many  places  and  for  long  periods  the  cry 
of  the  martyr  has  been  the  only  song  of  the 
Christian;  but  the  light  has  never  been  put 
out,  and  we  are  living  in  a  day  when  that  light 
is  rapidly  dispelling  all  others,  and  nations 
that  long  have  sat  in  heathen  gloom  are  now 
emerging  into  the  new  life  of  the  kingdom  of 
Jesus  Christ.    If,  then,  sorrow  falls  upon  the 


CHRIST'S  CURE  FOR  "THE  BLUES"      179 

individual  believer,  or  the  "blues"  get  posses- 
sion of  the  individual  Christian  heart,  the  mes- 
sage which  brought  comfort  to  that  earliest 
disciple  should  come  with  an  altogether  re- 
storing power  to  the  despondent  soul  to-day. 
God's  work  is  going  forward,  and  we  have  but 
to  play  our  part,  to  hold  fast  our  faith,  in  order 
to  enter  in  with  him  into  his  triumph,  no  mat- 
ter how  great  the  sorrow  or  how  bitter  the  dis- 
appointment or  the  trial. 

But  the  message  went  further  than  this.  It 
proclaimed  blessings,  too  great  for  words, 
awaiting  the  man  Avhose  sorrows  and  dis- 
appointments do  not  separate  him  from  Christ. 
"Blessed  is  he,  whosoever  shall  find  no  occa- 
sion of  stumbling  in  me."  It  is  often  a  very 
hard  thing  to  do,  not  to  be  arrested  in  one's 
work,  not  to  find  one's  hand  palsied,  or  one's 
feet  rendered  sluggish  in  the  service  of  our 
Lord,  when  we  ourselves  are  called  to  pass 
through  deep  waters,  or  are  confronted  by 
unexpected  disappointment. 

We  were  in  full  career.  The  heart  was  eager 
and  the  hands  were  full  of  work.  We  had  no 
thought  of  self,  no  care  for  fatigue.  Are  we 
not  doing  what  is  worth  while?  Is  it  not  for 
Christ  and  for  his  kingdom  that  we  are  help- 
ing others  and  serving  him?  Suddenly  the 
distress  comes,  and  all  is  changed.     Then  is 


180    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

the  real  trial  of  the  Christian's  faith.  When 
George  Romanes,  the  brilliant  young  professor 
at  Oxford,  the  friend  of  Darwin,  the  one  who 
was  to  carry  on  that  great  man's  work,  was 
stricken  with  the  painful  disease,  of  which  he 
died,  and  the  doctors  had  announced  to  him 
that  the  suffusion  of  the  brain  which  had  be- 
gun, and  had  marked  itself  in  the  advancing 
blindness,  would  continue,  and  that  he  had  at 
most  but  a  few  months  to  live,  and  he  found 
himself  face  to  face  with  the  arrest  of  his  work, 
and  saw  all  about  him  the  accumulated  ma- 
terial which  no  one  else  could  use,  his  friend 
Canon  Scott-Holland  wrote  to  him  these 
words :  "It  is  a  tremendous  moment  when  first 
one  is  called  upon  to  join  the  great  army  of 
those  w^ho  suffer.  .  .  .  Since  Christ,  this 
world  of  pain  is  no  accident,  untoward  or  sinis- 
ter, but  a  lawful  department  of  life,  with  ex- 
periences, interests,  adventures,  hopes,  de- 
lights, secrets  of  its  own.  These  are  all  thrown 
open  to  us  as  we  pass  within  the  gates — things 
we  could  never  learn  or  know  or  see  so  long 
as  we  were  well.  God  help  you  to  walk  through 
this  world  now  open  to  you  as  through  a  king- 
dom regal,  royal,  and  wide,  and  glorious." 

His  spirit  at  once  rose  to  this  summons.  He 
had  long  been  an  unbeliever,  but  his  heart  had 
been  opened  to  the  faith  of  the  Christian ;  and 


CHRIST'S  CURE  FOR  "THE  BLUES"      181 

now  that  he  saw  that  he  was  called  to  walk 
in  the  way  in  which  his  Master  had  walked, 
that  that  way  was  a  royal  road,  though  it  was 
the  Via  Dolorosa,  he  was  ready  to  follow.  And 
this  was  the  result  as  recorded  in  his  biogra- 
phy by  his  wife:  "Now  more  resolutely  than 
ever  he  set  himself  to  face  the  ultimate  prob- 
lems of  life  and  being.  It  is  impossible  to  tell 
here  of  the  inner  workings  of  that  pure  and 
unselfish  soul,  of  those  longings  and  searchings 
after  God,  of  the  gradual  growth  in  steadfast 
endurance,  in  faith.  To  one  or  two  these  are 
known,  and  the  example  of  lofty  patience 
and  of  single-heartedness  is  not  one  they  are 
likely  to  forget." 

To-day,  where  George  Komanes's  name  is 
known,  he  is  loved  and  reverenced,  not  so 
much  because  he  was  a  great  scientist,  as  be- 
cause he  was  so  sweet  and  beautiful,  so  strong 
and  tender,  a  Christian. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  trial  as  our  Lord  him- 
self has  interpreted  it.  When  the  hour  of 
darkness  comes  and  the  sorrow  is  overwhelm- 
ing, or  the  distress  is  too  great  for  human  min- 
istering, then  it  is  that  Jesus  himself  speaks 
to  the  broken  heart,  and  calls  his  child  to  that 
outlook  upon  his  own  ministry  which  is  at 
once  the  promise  and  the  means  of  the  world's 
healing.     He  walked  in  the  sorrowful  way, 


182    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

and  if  that  way  opens  before  us,  it  is  that,  fol- 
lowing him,  we  may  be  led  into  larger  service 
and  richer  attainments  than  otherwise  could 
be  ours.  However  dark  the  day  may  be,  he 
would  keep  before  our  eyes  the  vision  of  that 
new  day  when  he  will  come  into  his  kingdom 
and  himself  extend  the  blessing  beyond  human 
utterance  to  those  who  have  found  no  stum- 
bling-block in  him,  but,  entering  into  "the 
fellowship  of  his  sufferings,"  have  at  last 
realized  "the  power  of  his  resurrection.''  His 
work  in  them  is  accomplished.  They  shall  see 
him  as  he  is,  and  be  like  him ! 


XVI 

THE  MANLY  SIDE  OF  TEMPTATION 

"There  hath  no  temptation  taken  you  but  such  as  man 
can  bear." — 1  Corinthians  10.  13. 

The  indisputable  thing  about  temptation  is 
its  universality.  The  young  man  who  in  self- 
justification  said  there  was  one  thing  that  he 
could  not  withstand,  namely,  temptation,  de- 
scribed the  common  experience;  for  its  effects 
are  as  uniform  as  the  experience  is  universal. 

The  difficulty  begins  after  we  have  had  the 
experience,  and  attempt  to  explain  to  ourselves 
its  real  significance.  It  locks  itself  up  with 
the  question  of  human  suffering,  and  the  two 
together  present  a  problem  with  which  the 
mind  of  man  has  wrestled  since  the  beginning 
of  history,  and  which  remains  to-day  to  most 
men  as  insolvable  or  as  unsatisfactorily  ex- 
plained as  it  ever  was.  The  book  of  Job,  one 
of  the  oldest  and  the  most  splendid  of  dramas, 
is  wholly  concerned  with  this  question.  His 
voluble  friends  thought  they  had  the  key  to 
the  problem  as  they  offered  each  his  neat  and 
satisfactory  philosophy  of  life.  The  fact  is 
that  if  we  could  explain  temptation  and  suf- 

183 


184    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

fering  it  would  only  be  a  mechanical  interpre- 
tation of  life,  and  would  be  intolerable.  Life 
is  a  battle  in  which  God  sends  his  best  and 
holiest  into  the  agonies  and  temptations  of 
hell,  and  in  which  Jesus,  the  best,  endured  the 
worst.  He  alone  came  through  the  ordeal  un- 
scathed. He  alone  knew  so  much  of  the  mind 
of  God  as  to  rest  undisturbed  in  his  faith  in 
the  Father  from  whom  he  had  come,  and  who 
ordered  the  circumstances  in  which  he  suf- 
fered. 

But  we  common  men  have  no  such  knowl- 
edge, and  God  interposes  with  no  miracles  or 
unusual  interpretation.  When  he  answers  Job 
in  the  drama  the  answer  is  an  undecipherable 
mystery;  and  when  we  find  that  Job  is  silent 
and  comforted,  the  manifest  truth  is  that  his 
comfort  does  not  come  from  any  interpretation 
that  was  given  him  of  life's  trials  and  sorrows, 
but  in  the  simple  fact  that  he  knows  that  God 
was  loving  him  through  it  all.  The  greatness 
of  the  book  lies  here.  Out  of  the  dark  days 
of  human  history,  when  sorrow  and  sin  lay  as 
a  pall  on  every  life,  the  writer  of  this  tale  is 
able  to  reach  up  into  the  light  and  hold  this 
truth  before  the  eyes  of  men  for  all  time;  and 
it  is  the  one  great  fact  for  men  to  know,  that 
God  reigns,  and  that  God  is  love. 

The  next  thing  that  is  to  be  said  about 


THE  MANLY  SIDE  OF  TEMPTATION    185 

temptation  is  that  it  is  needful.  One  objection 
that  has  been  urged  against  the  doctrine  of 
evolution  is  that  "It  is  bad  for  a  man  to  be  set 
where  he  looks  down  on  all  that  has  gone  be- 
fore him."  This  is  the  position  in  which  the 
evolutionary  process  places  him;  for  he  is  the 
latest  if  not  the  final  product  of  that  process. 
He  not  only  looks  back  and  down  upon  all  that 
has  preceded  him,  as  being  in  the  evolutionary 
story  inferior  to  himself;  but  he  also  looks 
down  upon  all  about  him,  for  that,  too,  be- 
longs to  the  past.  If  man  were  left  undis- 
turbed in  that  attitude,  his  own  development 
would  be  seriously  retarded,  if  not  entirely  pre- 
vented. The  doctrine  of  individual  superiority 
is  one  that  appeals  most  powerfully  to  every 
heart  and  is  immediately  immoral  in  its  ef- 
fect. It  produces  arrogance  and  pride.  -Temp- 
tation comes  and  quickly  discloses  the  truth 
about  ourselves.  It  uncovers  a  man's  vain- 
glory, and  startles  him  out  of  his  proud  self- 
sufficiency.  Where  he  thought  himself  strong 
he  finds  himself  weak;  for  the  most  common 
characteristic  of  temptation  is  that  it  attacks 
us  where  we  are  least  conscious  of  our  own 
weakness,  at  least  in  the  first  stages  of  the 
attack;  and  it  is  the  first  step  that  costs.  It 
may,  therefore,  be  said,  speaking  in  the  large, 
that  temptation  is  wholesome  as  having  a  place 


186    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

in  the  scheme  of  morality.  It  is  easily  justi- 
fiable. Indeed,  in  the  scheme  of  the  moral 
life  in  which  we  live,  it  may  well  be  regarded 
as  essential.  Without  it,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  conceive  how  man  could  advance  morally. 
It  stands  to  moral  fiber  very  much  as  resist- 
ance does  to  physical  muscle,  something  given 
us  to  overcome  in  order  that  we  may  grow 
strong  by  overcoming. 

The  next  thing  to  be  said  is  that  it  is  mani- 
festly a  part  of  God's  plan.  We  may  say  this 
with  some  assurance,  because  when  we  open 
the  story  of  our  Lord  we  find  that  when  the 
time  came  for  him  to  begin  his  ministry  and 
to  present  himself  to  men  as  one  of  themselves, 
and  yet  the  witness  of  the  Father,  he  was  at 
once  led  by  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness  to 
be  tempted.  This  temptation  was  manifestly 
not  due  to  an  accident,  or  to  chance,  or  to  any 
law  of  heredity,  as  bringing  to  him  experience 
lying  outside  of  God's  dealings.  It  was,  as 
presented  to  him,  and  as  recorded  by  his  disci- 
ples, the  direct  purpose  of  God,  and  stood  in 
some  important  or  even  essential  relation  to 
the  work  he  had  to  do. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  we  are  wholly 
justified  in  saying  that,  no  matter  how  sin 
originated,  or  what  is  to  be  the  ultimate  method 
of  its  expulsion  from  the  universe,  temptation, 


THE  MANLY  SIDE  OF  TEMPTATION    187 

as  we  know  it  in  human  life,  does  not  lie  out- 
side of  God's  direct  dealing  with  us.  If  temp- 
tation was  necessary  and  appointed  by  God  in 
the  case  of  Jesus,  we  may  conclude  that  it  is 
equally  necessary  and  as  truly  appointed  by 
God  for  us.  God  knows  all  the  circumstances 
of  our  life.  Therefore  the  comfort  and  the 
strength  that  are  to  be  found  in  the  text, 
"There  hath  no  temptation  taken  you  but  such 
as  man  can  bear."  God  knows;  God  can  de- 
liver; God  will  judge  justly. 

Temptations  are  of  two  kinds — those  that 
come  as  penalty,  and  those  that  lie  in  oppor- 
tunity. An  immediate  and  awful  consequence 
of  wrongdoing  is  its  creation  of  new  tempta- 
tion. This  new  form  of  temptation,  new  es- 
pecially because  of  its  power,  is  due  in  part 
to  familiarity  which  dulls  the  sense  of  an- 
tagonism; in  part  to  habit  which  quickly  fas- 
tens chains  upon  us ;  to  the  love  of  ease  which 
makes  us  unwilling  long  to  struggle;  to  loss 
of  shame  which  so  quickly  follows  undetected 
transgression ;  to  sophistry  with  which  an  un- 
quiet and  disregarded  conscience  soon  surren- 
ders; and  to  loss  of  moral  sensitiveness  which 
marks  the  gradual  but  sure  surrender  of  the 
whole  nature  to  a  form  of  transgression  which 
has  become  as  easy  as  it  is  seductive. 

We  find  ourselves  in  an  atmosphere  of  temp- 


188    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

tation.  We  say,  "Others  do  it."  We  give  way 
to  temper,  or  passion,  or  the  habit  of  being 
cross,  or  reading  suggestive  books,  or  fre- 
quenting unclean  places,  or  even  listening  to 
and  repeating  vulgar  or  shameful  talk.  We,  in 
one  direction  or  another,  make  temptation  for 
ourselves,  solely  because  we  have  not  resisted 
the  beginnings  of  evil;  and  this  whole  line  of 
conduct  and  relationship  comes  as  a  penalty 
for  the  initial  surrender. 

Now,  with  this  form  of  temptation  we  may, 
perhaps,  say  that  God  has  nothing  to  do.  We 
make  it  for  ourselves,  and  his  sole  connection 
with  it  is  that  he  has  placed  us  in  the  universe 
and  given  us  individual  powers  which  make 
it  possible  for  us  to  do  what  we  will.  W^e  have 
to  form  our  own  character.  Not  even  God 
can  do  this  for  us.  This  comes  as  a  part  of 
our  own  work,  which  we  cannot  charge  upon 
God,  but  over  which  we  may  well  believe  God 
grieves.  It  is  of  no  use  to  ask  God's  help  while 
we  continue  in  such  a  course.  We  are  doing 
what  we  want  to  do,  whether  we  know  it  or 
not.  And  the  petition  which  Jesus  has  given 
us  in  the  prayer,  "Lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion," is  not  for  men  and  women  who  deliber- 
ately make  temptation  for  themselves,  and  love 
it.  If  one  read  thoughtfully  some  of  the 
modern  novels  which  purport  to  give  an  accu- 


THE  MANLY  SIDE  OF  TEMPTATION    189 

rate  description  of  life  as  it  is  among  culti- 
vated people,  he  will  see  the  folly  of  charging 
the  transgression  into  which  the  hero  and  the 
heroine  are  described  as  ultimately  falling  as 
due  to  heredity,  or  native  temperament,  or  the 
sins  of  their  ancestors,  or  the  circumstances 
with  which  they  are  surrounded,  as  if  they  had 
no  responsibility  themselves.  The  truth  is 
that  they  prepare  for  themselves  the  tempta- 
tion, however  subtly  it  is  conceived,  or  with 
whatever  plausible  suggestions  the  situation 
is  justified.  At  last  they  fall  into  the  pit 
which  they  themselves  have  digged. 

There  is,  however,  an  entirely  different  class 
of  temptation,  that  which  comes  with  oppor- 
tunity. Of  this  it  may  be  said  that  God  lets 
down  a  ladder  and  says  to  his  child,  "Come  up 
higher  V  It  may  be  a  hard  climb.  It  often  is 
attended  with  pain ;  it  often  is  in  private,  not 
seen  of  men;  but,  nevertheless,  it  is  a  tremen- 
dous temptation,  and  it  is  sent  of  God.  Happily, 
we  know  that  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  the 
temptation  is  not  only  overcome,  but  great 
blessing  is  won  by  it.  Thousands  of  young 
men  are  to-day  in  positions  of  trust,  and  do 
not  steal.  Temptation  is  constant.  Daily 
God  calls  them  to  be  strong,  to  climb,  to  grow 
in  grace  and  in  character;  and  the  habit  has 
become  fixed.     They  sweep  temptation  aside 


190     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

and  they  press  upward.  Thousands  of  young 
women  are  turning  aside  from  allurements 
that  offer  fine  clothes  and  ease  and  luxury, 
in  order  that  they  may  make  growth  in  service 
and  in  character  and  in  conscious  strength. 
In  this  acceptance  of  temptation,  and  resist- 
ing it  as  a  matter  of  duty  and  of  strength  and 
of  fixed  purpose,  lies  the  real  heroism  of  the 
common  life.  Kead  the  story  of  men  like 
Lincoln  and  Grant  and  the  great  War  Secre- 
tary Stanton,  or  of  Lord  Cromer  in  Egypt. 
Here  you  have  men  to  whom  came  great  op- 
portunity of  personal  aggrandizement,  of  mak- 
ing themselves  rich,  of  winning  power,  through 
corruption.  They  not  only  swept  it  from  them, 
but  they  conquered  the  temptation.  They 
made  themselves  the  men  they  became;  and  in 
doing  so  they  lifted  their  fellows.  "Leave  me 
the  glory  of  dying  poor,"  said  the  Italian  pa- 
triot D'Azeglio,  when  his  countrymen  at  the 
close  of  the  Austrian  War  wanted  to  give  him 
a  large  gift  of  money.  "I  heard,"  said  the 
apostle  in  the  vision  of  the  revelation,  "as  it 
were  the  voice  of  a  great  multitude,  and  as  the 
voice  of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of 
mighty  thunders,  saying.  Hallelujah:  for  the 
Lord  our  God,  the  Almighty,  reigneth."  These 
are  the  voices  of  those  who  have  fought  the 
fight  and  have  won  the  victory  which  is  to  be 


THE  MANLY  SIDE  OF  TEMPTATION    191 

won  in  this  our  daily  life,  with  its  temptations 
and  its  sorrows  that  are  to  be  bravely  borne  or 
victoriously  resisted,  that  men  may  show  their 
allegiance  to  God  and  the  strength  of  their  pur- 
pose in  their  efforts  to  serve  him. 

So  it  follows  that  the  common  temptations 
of  life  are  proving  us  every  day.  In  the  inti- 
mate letters  which  General  Gordon  wrote 
from  Khartoum  to  his  sister  during  the  weary 
months  of  that  sad  siege,  he  refers  more  than 
once  to  the  Old  Testament  story  of  Agag,  the 
king  of  the  Amalekites,  whom  Saul  spared 
and  Samuel  hewed  in  pieces  before  the  Lord. 
He  says,  "I  had  a  hard  half  hour  this  morning 
hewing  Agag  in  pieces  before  the  Lord.''  It 
referred  to  his  custom  to  spend  an  hour  in  his 
tent  in  private  devotion  before  the  work  of 
the  day  began.  There  he  examined  his  own 
heart  carefully,  and  in  his  letters  he  wrote  to 
his  sister  the  story  of  these  inmost  struggles. 
Such  phrases  as  this  occur :  "Just  before  I  left 
I  told  you  about  Agag.  The  only  way  to  fight 
the  Amelekite  is  to  keep  in  union  with  God  in 
Christ.  My  constant  prayer  is  against  Agag, 
who,  of  course,  is  here  as  insinuating  as  ever." 

Agag  was  to  him  no  Turkish  Pasha,  or  Su- 
danese slave  driver,  nor  any  of  the  foes  in  flesh 
or  blood  against  whom  Gordon  carved  out  his 
great  career,  but  just  that  old  and  evil  self,  in 


192    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

meeting  and  overcoming  which  lie  the  duty, 
the  appointed  warfare,  the  sanctification  and 
growth  of  character  of  every  one  of  us.    Agag 
is  Self,  pleading  for  notice,  saying:  "Look  at 
what  I  have  done.    Talk  about  me.    Fix  your 
thoughts  on  me.     Do  what  I  want.    Get  the 
things  that  I  like."    It  was  against  this  that 
Gordon    kept    up    his    daily    fight.     It    is 
against  this  temptation,  which  we  common 
Christians  find  in  our  own  hearts  and  which 
comes  to  us  out  of  every  day's  experience,  that 
we  are  to  win  our  crown  as  he  won  his.    Here 
is  the  pattern  for  manly  men,  men  who  do  not 
dally  with  temptation,  men  who  know  them- 
selves and  are  afraid  to  sin.    Such  men  do  not 
whine  because  temptation  attacks  them.    Nor 
do  they  charge  it  back  upon  God  when  they 
fall.    Nor  do  they  talk  about  the  mistakes  of 
their  father  and  mother  in  making  them  go  to 
church    or    giving   them    too    much    religion 
when   they   were   children.     They   know   the 
Devil  when  they  see  him.    They  have  acquired 
the  habit  of  victory  over  him.    They  resist  him 
and  all  his  works ;  and  he  flees  from  them,  be- 
cause God  is  on  their  side.    And  they  grow  to 
be  men  in  the  contest. 


XVII 

THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  CONVERSION 

"I  obtained  mercy,  because  I  did  it  ignorantly  in 
unbelief."—!  Timothy  1.  13. 

This  text  leads  the  thouglits  in  what  may  be 
regarded  as  modern  lines.  It  is  an  interesting 
study  in  psychology.  But  let  no  one  think 
it  less  serious  or  less  important  in  conse- 
quence. The  apostle  Paul  was  in  dead  earnest. 
He  was  in  prison.  His  death  was  at  hand.  He 
writes  a  brief  letter  to  Timothy,  his  beloved 
son  in  the  gospel,  crowding  into  it  the  experi- 
ences of  a  lifetime.  He  is  full  of  strong  as- 
severations. "Faithful  is  the  saying,  and 
worthy  of  all  acceptation,''  he  repeats.  He  re- 
affirms the  convictions  which  his  long  walking 
with  Christ  has  established ;  and  in  the  text  he 
applies  them  to  the  greatest  experience  of  his 
life,  his  conversion.  He  had  some  very  posi- 
tive and  important  things  to  say  about  it. 
They  are  true  for  him,  and  he  knows  them  to 
be  true  for  all  time  and  for  all  men. 

As  we  read  the  short  letter  we  are  impressed 
with  his  uppermost  thought,  which  is  that  God 
has  been  very  good  to  him.    Again  and  again 

193 


194    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

he  thanks  God.  Paul  was  always  thanking 
God.  His  religion,  whatever  else  is  to  be  said 
of  it — and  much  is  being  said  nowadays  about 
PauPs  religion — is  one  of  gratitude  and  joy. 
He  rejoices  in  God  always.  The  love  of  God 
which  fills  his  heart  overflows  in  constant  ex- 
pression of  thanksgiving  and  also  in  constant 
exhortations  to  others  to  share  his  feeling.  He 
would  have  all  believers  know  so  much  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  walk  in  such  intimate  com- 
panionship with  him  that  the  joy  of  that  com- 
panionship and  the  reality  of  the  love  which 
has  redeemed  them  shall  be  their  constant  and 
richest  experience. 

We  would  not  think  much  of  Paul's  religion 
if  it  had  not  this  characteristic.  He  always 
talks  freely  of  himself.  Other  men  talking  of 
themselves,  of  how  and  what  they  have  done, 
if  their  career  has  been  exceptional,  may 
amuse  or  interest  us,  but  they  do  not  touch  our 
heart.  Religion  is  a  matter  of  the  heart ;  and 
Paul  grips  us,  not  because  his  experience  was 
in  itself  so  exceptional  or  so  impressive,  but 
because  it  has  this  quality  of  self-forgetting 
joy  and  gratitude.  He  had  surrendered  his 
heart  with  his  life  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  in  that  surrender  he  had  entered  into  ex- 
periences which  he  is  eager  to  share  with  us. 

In  the  common  vicissitudes  of  life  we  all 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  CONVERSION    195 

have  burdens  to  bear.  We  are  despondent,  or 
cold,  or  hardened,  and  we  aH  want  to  have  our 
hearts  touched.  It  does  not  often  happen ;  but 
when  it  does  we  know  it  and  we  are  quick  to 
respond.  When  Paul  talks  about  himself  it 
is  in  a  way  to  touch  men's  hearts.  God  has 
reached  his  heart.  His  joy  over  it  is  deep  and 
constant,  and  we  are  glad  for  him.  What  God 
has  done  for  him  he  may  do  for  us. 

Here  is  his  account  of  the  process.  He  re- 
views his  innermost  experiences  and  uncon- 
sciously gives  us  this  lesson  in  psychology. 

He  begins  with  the  important  fact  that  he 
has  discovered  that  he  was  before  his  conver- 
sion in  a  state  of  unbelief.  Here  are  two 
things:  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  discovery, 
and  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  state  of  the 
mind.  More  than  two  thousand  years  ago  the 
Greeks  had  a  highly  developed  drama,  so 
highly  developed  that  it  has  never  been  sur- 
passed. It  was  an  intense  study  of  life  and 
was  developed  along  carefully  defined  lines. 
It  was  held  to  the  single  purpose  of  showing 
men  to  themselves  in  their  innermost  nature 
and  under  the  working  of  the  most  elemental 
passions.  The  study  and  the  art  were  carried 
to  such  perfection  that  certain  laws  were  de- 
duced for  the  proper  interpretation  of  the  hu- 
man mind  and  for  the  development  of  its  repre- 


196    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

sentation  in  the  drama.  One  of  these  laws  was 
that  there  must  always  be  presented  in  the 
drama,  because  they  are  always  to  be  found 
in  life,  these  two  things,  recognition,  or  an 
awakening  (anagnorisis) ^  and  a  revolution, 
that  is,  a  sudden  and  complete  change 
(peripeteia).  These  two  experiences  the  Greeks 
discovered  as  universal  in  the  inner  life  of 
man  if  that  life  is  to  make  progress,  and  as 
therefore  fundamental  in  the  true  presenta- 
tion of  that  life  in  the  drama. 

Whether  Paul  learned  this  from  his  studies, 
or  whether  he  first  learned  it  from  his  own 
experience,  the  fact  is  that  he  constantly  re- 
fers to  it.  "Awake,  thou  that  sleepest"; 
"Awake  to  soberness  righteously";  "Already 
it  is  time  for  you  to  awake  out  of  sleep,"  are 
familiar  appeals  of  his.  He  discovered  that 
he  had  been  asleep.  He  did  not  know  it  be- 
fore, but  he  now  realized  it.  He  had  gained 
a  new  view  of  himself,  and  the  transition  from 
the  old  life  to  the  new  he  characterizes  in  these 
terms. 

Furthermore,  he  discovers  that  he  had  been 
in  a  state  of  unbelief.  To-day  much  is  said 
about  states  of  consciousness,  the  hypnotic 
state,  the  subconscious  self,  the  other  self,  and 
the  like.  Some  of  this  is  trickery ;  much  of  it 
is  strange,  but  more  of  it  is  truth ;  that  is,  we 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  CONVERSION    197 

have  states  of  mind  of  which  we  are  imper- 
fectly conscious.  Their  real  relation  to  our 
conscious  self  is  not  clearly  defined,  but  we 
are  aware  of  their  existence.  We  have  "moods" 
which,  unfortunately,  those  who  live  with  us 
have  reason  to  know  better  than  we  do  our- 
selves. We  recognize  them  quickly  enough  in 
others.  We  say,  "It  is  his  bad  day" ;  or,  "He 
is  not  himself;  or,  "His  breakfast  did  not 
agree  with  him'';  or,  "Something  has  gone 
wrong" ;  and  we  govern  our  approaches  to  one 
another  by  our  knowledge  of  these  conditions. 
Of  our  own  moods  we  also  are  more  con- 
scious than  we  are  always  willing  to  admit. 
We  were  cross,  or  ugly,  or  despondent,  or  self- 
indulgent  in  disagreeable  ways,  and  we  knew 
all  the  time  that  it  was  so,  but  we  were  little 
disposed  to  shake  ourselves  out  of  the  mood. 
When  it  was  over  we  have  often  wondered  at 
ourselves  and  asked  ourselves  why  we  allowed 
such  a  state  to  continue.  But  we  did  allow  it, 
and  we  probably  will  again,  as  we  find  it  is 
possible  to  awake  to  the  knowledge  of  the  con- 
dition not  infrequently  and  still  to  revert  to 
it.  Indeed,  these  moods  often  grow  upon  us 
and  become  a  more  or  less  manifest  and  set- 
tled trait  of  character,  even  against  our  own 
desire,  and  often  much  to  the  grief  of  those 
who  love  us.     In  short,  there  are  many  evi- 


198    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

dences  of  the  fact  that  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  a  state,  continuous  and  more  or  less  set- 
tled, of  the  mind,  of  which  we  ourselves  are 
only  partially  conscious,  but  which  pretty  ac- 
curately represents  our  real  self,  and  is  the 
controlling  feature  of  our  character.  We  are 
willingly  indifferent  to  it,  and  would  perhaps 
be  prompt  to  resent  it  if  we  were  charged  with 
it,  but  it  is  there  and  must  be  reckoned  with. 

Now,  Paul  says  that  his  awakening,  or  self- 
recognition,  brought  to  him  the  knowledge  of 
this  inner  state,  and  showed  to  him  that  it  was 
a  state  of  unbelief.  He  had  been  a  student, 
and  thought  himself  a  sincere  seeker  for  truth, 
but  he  was  now  aware  that  there  is  a  realm  of 
truth  against  which  he  had  been  prejudiced 
and  the  evidence  of  which  he  had  not  been  will- 
ing to  admit  to  himself ;  that  because  of  some- 
thing in  himself,  his  mental  or  moral  attitude 
toward  it,  of  which  he  had  been  but  little  con- 
scious, he  had  been  living  in  a  state  of  resist- 
ance to  the  truth,  and  that  that  accurately 
explains  his  acts  and  his  moods  up  to  the  hour 
of  his  awakening.  He  has  had  a  mirror  held 
up  to  him.  He  sees  just  what  his  condition 
was  when  this  awakening  came.  He  was  in  a 
state  which  was  wholly  unworthy  of  him ;  and 
he  did  not  know  it. 

Furthermore,  he  now  sees  what  he  did  not 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  CONVERSION    199 

see  before,  that  in  that  state  he  was  a  great 
sinner;  not  a  drunkard,  or  profligate,  or  dis- 
honest, or  corrupt,  a  sinner  in  the  common 
sense  of  the  term,  but  a  sinner  against  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and,  consequently,  against 
God.  He  had  done  the  Lord  dishonor  in  word 
and  act  and  purpose;  he  was  "a  blasphemer, 
and  a  persecutor,  and  injurious,"  or,  insulting. 
In  every  way  he  had  been  under  the  dominion 
of  the  state  of  unbelief  in  which  he  was  then 
living.  He  had  held  himself  back  from  ac- 
cepting the  truth,  and  had  even  persuaded 
himself  that  he  was  doing  God  service  when 
he  was  rejecting  Jesus  Christ  and  his  gospel 
with  all  his  might.  He  sees  it  now,  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  it,  clear  and  indisputable  as  it  is 
in  his  own  heart,  all  question  as  to  what  other 
things  he  had  done,  or  not  done,  falls  into  in- 
significance. The  one  overwhelming  truth  is 
that  he  is  a  sinner  because  of  his  attitude  to- 
ward Jesus  Christ. 

We  may  pause  to  note  that  in  this  discovery 
Paul  is  exactly  in  line  with  the  whole  teaching 
of  the  New  Testament.  "We  shall  all  appear 
before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ."  The  only 
song  of  the  redeemed  is  that  he  is  worthy  to  re- 
ceive honor  and  praise  because  "he  has  re- 
deemed them  out  of  every  kindred  and  nation." 
The  final  question  of  that  supreme  hour  is. 


200    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

What  has  been  the  relation  of  the  suppliants  to 
Jesus  Christ  the  Judge?  Have  they  known 
him,  and  believed  him,  and  loved  and  served 
him?  Have  their  hearts  been  opened  to  such 
revelation  as  has  been  made  to  them  of  him? 
Has  their  life  been  a  growth  into  his  likeness? 
Then,  and  not  otherwise,  "they  shall  see  him 
as  he  is,  and  be  like  him." 

Paul  is  overwhelmed  by  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  love  that  had  been  shown  to  him 
and  what  he  had  failed  to  show  in  return. 
Here  is  where  he  grips  us.  He  has  come  to  see 
the  reality  of  what  he  did  not  know  of  himself. 
That  is  what  we  all  need  to  be  taught.  We 
think  we  are  all  right.  We  are  satisfied  that 
w^e  are  not  as  other  men,  or  "even  as  this  pub- 
lican." Are  we  not  gentlemen?  Have  we  not 
a  proper  self-respect?  Are  we  not  walking 
carefully  and  living  upright  lives?  What  more 
can  be  required?  Meanwhile  there  are  revela- 
tions of  self  in  the  presence  of  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  holiness  of  God  before  which  the 
angels  cover  their  faces.  And  the  saintliest 
souls  are  seen  to  be  those  who  are  most  con- 
scious of  their  unworthiness.  We  pause  before 
their  confessions.  We  even  doubt  their  sin- 
cerity. We  say  it  is  sentiment  or  tradition. 
Paul  says :  "I  thought  I  was  doing  God  service. 
Now  I  see.    I  have  been  awakened.     I  know 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  CONVERSION    201 

the  truth.  I  am  overwhelmed."  We  do  not 
feel  so.  We  have  no  clue  to  the  real  meaning 
of  his  words ;  therefore  we  are  in  need  of  being 
awakened. 

Paul  now  bears  testimony  that  it  was  the 
grace  of  God  that  awoke  and  changed  him.  He 
did  not  do  it;  he  was  in  a  state  of  unbelief. 
How  to  get  out  of  that  state,  he  did  not  know ; 
for  he  did  not  realize  the  need  of  the  change. 
Indeed,  he  can  hardly  believe  in  its  reality, 
now  that  he  sees  how  tremendous  it  was.  It 
seems  too  much  even  for  God  to  have  done; 
and  when  he  tries  to  confirm  it  to  himself  and 
to  understand  how  it  came  about,  he  says  that 
perhaps  the  explanation  lies  in  that  he  did  it 
ignorantly  in  his  unbelief.  He  remembers  the 
saying  at  the  beginning  of  the  Old  Testament, 
"My  Spirit  shall  not  strive  with  man  forever." 
He  remembers  how  often  Israel  had  hardened 
his  heart,  and  how  God  had  withdrawn  him- 
self, even  from  his  chosen  people,  because  of 
their  unbelief.  He  sees  himself  the  chief  of 
sinners,  and  he  seeks  to  assure  himself  in  the 
mercy  that  has  been  shown  to  him  in  the 
thought  that  perhaps  it  was  because  of  his 
ignorance  and  his  state  of  unbelief. 

The  fact  is  that  Jesus  Christ  has  come  to 
him ;  and  with  him  came  a  new  gift  and  a  new 
power.    God  has  done  this  for  him  which  he 


202    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

could  not  do  for  himself.  It  had  been  simply 
and  easily  done,  so  easily  that  he  lives  in  per- 
petual amazement  at  the  thought  of  it.  He 
was  on  the  way  to  Damascus,  full  of  his  hos- 
tility to  Jesus  Christ,  possessed  by  his  state 
of  unbelief,  when  God  spoke  to  him,  and  a 
vision  of  Christ  as  he  is  dawned  upon  him. 
Then  and  there  he  found  he  was  moved  to  sur- 
render himself  to  Jesus  Christ.  Then  and 
there  he  saw  his  unbelief  and  broke  from  it 
and  said,  "Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to 
do?''  He  rose  from  his  knees  with  a  new  pur- 
pose in  his  heart  to  do  whatever  his  Lord 
wanted  him  to  do,  and  though  it  was  only  to 
go  to  Damascus,  ignorant  of  what  was  before 
him,  he  was  obedient  to  the  heavenly  vision, 
and  went  on  that  way  in  which  God  himself 
had  led  him  from  step  to  step  until  the  present 
hour. 

From  beginning  to  end  it  was  God's  grace, 
that  grace  which  now  fills  his  heart  with 
thanksgiving,  and  in  which  Paul  is  continu- 
ally rejoicing,  which  then  opened  his  eyes  and 
ever  since  has  guided  his  life.  The  one  word 
which  describes  his  whole  experience  he  gives 
us :  "I  thank  him  that  enabled  me,  even  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord." 

Finally,  he  finds  the  proof  of  the  reality  of 
this  great  change  in  his  new  love  for  God  and 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  CONVERSION    203 

his  new  love  for  men.  He  says,  "The  grace  of 
our  Lord  abounded  exceedingly  with  faith  and 
love."  His  own  purpose  ever  has  been  to  bring 
men  to  know  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

To-day  men  question  conversion.  They  com- 
pare it  with  hypnotic  or  medicinal  cures,  which 
change  men  so  greatly,  and  they  make  light 
of  it  as  a  real  experience,  or  at  least  as  an  ex- 
perience changing  the  whole  man,  as  the 
Christian  asserts.  The  radical  difference  lies 
in  this,  that  in  the  Christian's  conversion  the 
character  is  changed.  From  a  state  of  unbelief 
he  passes  into  a  state  of  faith,  so  real,  so  per- 
manent, that  it  appears  in  a  new  strength  to 
do  right,  and  in  a  new  love  for  God  and  man. 

The  command  of  Christ  to  his  followers  to 
go  and  make  disciples  of  all  men  was  but  the 
expression  of  what  is  the  inevitable  impulse 
of  the  man  who  has  in  reality  given  himself  to 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  blessed  work 
of  God's  Spirit  has  been  changed  from  sin  to 
righteousness.  He  finds  a  new  love  in  his 
heart  which  expresses  itself  in  an  eager  desire 
to  share  his  new  experience  with  other  men, 
to  bring  them  to  the  Lord  who  has  done  so 
much  for  him.  This,  from  the  beginning,  has 
been  the  distinctive  mark  of  the  Christian. 
The  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  pre- 
eminently a  missionary  faith,  not  simply  be- 


204    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

cause  the  Lord  has  so  commanded,  but  because 
this  is  the  natural  and  inevitable  expression 
of  the  true  Christian  experience.  The  first 
impulse  of  the  heart  that  is  filled  with  the  joy 
of  the  Lord  is  to  share  that  joy  with  others, 
and  the  witness  to  the  Christian  of  the  reality 
of  his  own  acceptance  is  the  thought  of  the  joy 
that  he  will  have  when  he  shall  see  his  Lord 
as  he  is,  that  he  shall  find  there  others  also 
who  share  the  same  joy ;  and  that  he,  perhaps, 
has  been  permitted  to  have  some  part,  small 
though  it  may  be,  in  bringing  them  to  him 
whom  he  so  loves.  The  working  together  with 
God  into  which  we  are  called  is  but  the  natural 
outflowing  of  the  love  in  which  the  grace  of 
our  Lord  exceedingly  abounds. 


XVIII 

GOD'S  USE  OF  THE  USELESS 

"But  thou,  Bethlehem  Ephratah,  which  art  little  to 
he  among  the  thousands  of  Judah,  out  of  thee  shall  one 
come  forth  unto  me  that  is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel;  whose 
goings  forth  are  from  of  old,  from  everlasting."— 
MiCAH   5.  2. 

It  used  to  be  said  that  the  plan  of  redemp- 
tion is  unreasonable  because  man  is  so  unim- 
portant in  the  universe,  and  at  best  Christians 
are  so  few.  When  men  held  the  Ptolemaic 
theory  that  the  earth  is  the  center  of  the  uni- 
verse it  might  have  been  possible  to  accept 
such  a  scheme,  but  now  that  we  know  how 
small  a  place  the  earth  occupies,  even  in  the 
visible  universe,  the  doctrine  is  absurd;  the 
world  is  far  too  small  and  man  too  insignifi- 
cant to  be  made  the  center  of  God's  thought, 
or  the  goal  to  which  creation  has  led. 

The  obvious  answer  is  that  the  new  view 
of  the  universe  wrought  no  change  in  men's 
religious  faith.  Most  of  us  are,  in  fact,  geo- 
centric. Our  thought,  as  well  as  our  life,  is 
largely  circumscribed  by  the  earth  on  which 
we  live.     No  one,  in  planning  his  life,  or  in 

205 


206    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

determining  his  religious  faith,  considers 
whether  the  sun  is  actually  so  many  thousands 
or  millions  of  times  bigger  than  the  earth,  or 
whether  it  is  only  as  big  as  a  dinner  plate.  The 
fact  is  that  bigness  is  no  measure  of  value  in 
interpreting  the  purpose  of  God.  Greatness 
and  littleness  as  applied  to  material  things 
have  no  meaning  in  the  things  of  his  kingdom. 
When  our  thoughts  turn  to  God  and  we  begin 
to  consider  our  relations  to  him,  our  immedi- 
ate situation,  whether  we  are  rich  or  poor, 
large  or  small,  in  our  influence  and  surround- 
ings, falls  out  of  mind.  These  considerations 
belong  to  a  different  realm  of  thought,  and 
the  standards  and  measures  of  the  one  do  not 
apply  and  cannot  pass  over  to  the  other. 

Astronomers  speak  of  the  possibility  of  our 
solar  system  being  at  the  center  of  the  uni- 
verse. It  would  be  idle  to  attempt  to  prove  it 
in  order  to  show  the  importance  of  man's 
place  in  the  universe,  or  the  true  significance 
of  what  is  done  on  this  earth,  either  by  God 
or  men.  It  is  equally  unimportant  whether 
other  worlds  are  inhabited  or  not,  as  necessary 
to  interpret  the  meaning  of  life  here. 

The  fact  is  that  the  earth  has  been  prepar- 
ing through  countless  ages.  It  is  among  the 
smallest  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Hegel  called 
it  "the  Bethlehem  of  worlds."    Large  parts  of 


GOD'S  USE  OF  THE  USELESS  207 

its  surface  are  still  unused  by  man,  for  whose 
uses  it  seems  at  last  to  have  been  fitted.  In 
fact,  in  its  smallness  and  in  its  insignificance 
it  is  in  the  analogy  of  all  God's  work,  in  which 
the  relations  of  large  and  small  are  to  us  so 
unintelligible. 

Israel  was  among  the  smallest  of  the  people 
of  antiquity,  and  in  Israel,  time  and  again, 
some  man  from  the  least  of  the  tribes,  and  the 
most  insignificant  of  households,  was  chosen 
by  God  to  the  first  place. 

A  parallel  to  this  is  the  place  that  smaller 
states  have  occupied  in  human  history.  Greece 
and  Venice  and  Portugal  were  in  their  great 
days  among  the  smallest.  England  has  always 
been  relatively  small,  as  Europe  is  to-day 
among  the  continents. 

The  fact  is,  as  scientific  men  assert,  our 
earth  is  the  most  highly  organized  spot  in  the 
universe,  and  organization  brings  in  a  very 
different  standard  of  measure  than  bigness. 
That  thought  presents  at  once  new  conditions, 
and  opens  a  realm  in  which  bigness  and  little- 
ness are  alike  unimportant. 

Such  as  it  is,  our  earth  was  chosen  for  the 
scene  of  a  divine  redemption,  and  according 
to  the  revelation  given  to  us  in  the  Scriptures 
that  embraces  other  realms  vaster  than  our 
imagination  can  grasp.     The  angels  "desire 


208    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

to  look  into'^  these  things.  "Principalities  and 
powers  in  heavenly  places"  are  concerned  with 
them.  The  redeemed  "without  us  are  not  made 
perfect";  and  the  kingdom  of  God  in  all  his 
universe  is  intimately  concerned  with  the  un- 
folding of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

The  choice  of  Bethlehem,  therefore,  is  not 
only  not  out  of  line  in  God's  method,  but  is  so 
directly  in  accord  with  it  that  it  gives  us  a 
principle.  We  are  to  disregard  greatness  and 
littleness  and  to  ask  simply.  Does  this  man, 
this  thing,  this  task,  have  relations  to  God,  to 
his  love,  to  his  wish?  Can  this  be  the  Bethle- 
hem of  the  hour?  Can  there  come  out  of  it  a 
revelation  of  God  to  men,  or  to  me? 

This  thought  at  once  sheds  light  on  the 
meaning  of  life.  Constantly  we  see  people, 
apparently  the  most  insignificant  and  unim- 
portant, turning  out  to  have  wide  usefulness, 
or  to  fill  a  large  place  in  later  life.  Who 
would  have  thought  that  the  child  deaf,  dumb, 
and  blind,  apparently  shut  out  from  all  possi- 
ble connection  with  the  world  of  humanity, 
could  ever  be  of  importance  to  anyone?  But 
years  pass,  and  as  Helen  Keller  she  becomes  an 
example  of  what  patience  and  love  and  skillful 
teaching  can  do  for  the  humblest  human  be- 
ing, and  an  inspiration  and  an  example  to  the 
great  multitude  of  the  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind, 


GOD'S  USE  OF  THE  USELESS  209 

and  those  who  care  for  them.  The  little  girl 
in  a  poor  farmer's  home  seemed  to  have  no  im- 
portant role,  but  Alice  Freeman  becomes  the 
leading  teacher  of  college  girls,  and  the  in- 
spiration of  the  great  army  of  young  women 
who  are  pushing  out  into  the  new  realms  of 
culture  and  usefulness  which  to-day  are  open- 
ing for  the  women  of  America.  In  the  same 
way,  the  slave  boy,  Booker  Washington,  ap- 
parently has  nothing  in  his  make-up  or  his  sur- 
roundings to  separate  him  from  the  multitude 
of  children  of  the  freedmen  who  form  the  great 
burden  laid  upon  the  civilization  and  the  life 
of  the  newly  established  American  nation ;  but 
in  the  plan  of  God  he  was  to  become  the  Moses 
of  the  new  era,  to  lead  the  millions  of  his  race 
in  our  country  out  of  the  hopelessness  of  their 
inherited  condition  into  a  new  life  of  promise, 
the  possibilities  of  which  and  the  bounds  of 
which  no  man  can  to-day  define.  So  the  story 
of  the  workhouse  lad,  afterward  known  as 
Henry  M.  Stanley,  just  now  written,  is  sure  to 
be  an  inspiration  to  a  multitude  of  boys  in  gen- 
erations to  come,  handicapped  by  the  circum- 
stances of  their  birth  or  their  surroundings, 
and  to  inspire  them  to  the  courage  necessary 
to  make  their  lives  what  God  would  have  them 
become. 

These  are  in  the  line  of  a  multitude  of  simi- 


210    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

lar  instances  to  show  that  God's  ways  are  not 
as  our  ways,  and  that  he  can  do  his  work  as 
readily  by  what  men  call  the  small  things,  as 
he  can  by  what  we  regard  as  the  large  things 
of  life. 

So  that  we  are  compelled  to  ask,  Why  is  not 
the  same  true  of  us?  Why  may  we  not  do  what 
will  make  life  to  us  large  and  profitable  and 
blessed,  no  matter  what  our  condition  or  our 
endowment,  if  we  will  but  look  beyond  our- 
selves and  the  things  which  lie  about  us,  and 
see  that  we  are  a  part  of  the  plan  of  God,  and 
that  God  is  working  in  us  and  through  us? 
"It  is  not  with  us,"  said  William  Brewster, 
the  leader  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  "as  with 
men  whom  small  things  can  discourage  or 
small  disappointments  cause  to  wish  them- 
selves home  again."  It  was  this  spirit  which 
led  that  little  company  of  exiles  landing  on  the 
stern  and  rockbound  coast  of  Massachusetts 
to  devote  themselves  to  the  task  of  doing  some- 
thing to  advance  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in 
the  world,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  this 
great  nation. 

This  principle  interprets  for  us  also  the 
meaning  of  illness  and  of  death.  We  measure 
life  by  its  visible  usefulness ;  but  we  are  taught 
that  that  standard  is  wrong.  We  say  of  the 
trials  and  disappointments  and  sorrows  and 


GOD'S  USE  OF  THE  USELESS  211 

losses  of  life,  as  the  text  says  of  Bethlehem, 
"Thou  art  little  to  be  among  the  thousands. 
There  is  no  place  for  you  in  our  plan  of  life. 
Indeed,  you  do  not  belong  there  at  all.''  And 
yet  these  experiences,  to  us  so  much  worse 
than  useless,  so  thwarting  of  our  plans  and 
destructive  even  of  our  hopes,  are  in  the  plan 
of  God.  They  are  indeed  chosen  of  God  and 
ordained  for  us.  They  are  sent  to  us  without 
explanation,  but  so  constantly,  so  inevitably, 
so  universally,  as  applied  to  the  race,  that  we 
cannot  fail  to  see  that  their  existence  and  pur- 
pose are  wrought  into  the  very  web  of  God's 
great  plan  of  the  moral  universe.  We  rebel 
against  them.  We  try  in  vain  to  explain  them. 
We  bend  all  our  energies  to  escape  them.  They 
destroy  our  courage  and  our  hope;  but  our 
efforts  are  useless.  Our  explanations  do  not 
satisfy.  No  progress  that  we  have  made  in 
knowledge,  or  in  civilization,  or  in  the  mastery 
of  the  powers  of  nature  gives  us  immunity 
from  them.  Indeed,  the  wider  our  knowledge, 
the  greater  the  mystery  that  lies  beyond.  The 
more  masterful  our  control  over  the  forces  of 
nature  and  of  life  in  given  directions,  the  more 
do  we  heap  up  unanticipated  difficulties  and 
face  unexpected  perils  at  every  step.  We  con- 
tinually boast  of  our  progress,  but  life  loses 
none  of  its  sorrows  and  finds  that  its  anxieties 


212    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

are  always  increased.  Year  by  year  suicides 
become  more  numerous  by  as  much  as  men 
give  up  their  faith  in  God.  Everything  con- 
spires to  force  back  upon  us  the  primitive  con- 
ception that  back  of  the  universe,  and  over  all 
life,  is  God  himself,  whose  ways  indeed  are  not 
as  our  ways,  nor  his  thoughts  as  our  thoughts. 
He  saves  not  by  many,  nor  by  few.  He  as- 
signs to  every  man  both  his  task  and  his  lot. 
He  suffers  none  to  be  tried  more  than  he  is 
able  to  bear,  and  with  the  trial  provides  a 
means  of  escape.  The  sorrows  and  disappoint- 
ments of  life  are,  therefore,  to  be  accepted  as 
truly  a  part  of  God's  plan  and  ministers  of 
his  grace,  as  are  the  successes  and  the  health 
which  move  us  to  such  abundant  thanksgiving. 
Bethlehem  was  in  itself  nothing;  but  out  of 
it  was  to  come  Him  "whose  goings  forth  are 
from  everlasting'';  and  out  of  the  darkest, 
most  disappointing,  most  intolerable  events  in 
our  life  may  come,  if  we  will,  influences  that 
are  to  go  with  us  into  eternity. 

Here  is  where  we  get  the  key  for  interpret- 
ing present  duty.  Is  the  task  small?  Is  it 
difficult?  Am  I  insignificant — even  unfit? 
Nevertheless  it  is  in  relation  to  God's  work. 
It  is  assigned  to  me  by  him.  It  is  in  accord 
with  his  plan.  I  must  hear  in  it  his  call  to 
press  forward,  to  use  the  powers  I  have,  to 


GOD'S  USE  OF  THE  USELESS  213 

look  up  and  not  down,  forward  and  not  back. 
When  I  "lend  a  hand''  it  is  not  simply  to  help 
my  fellow  men,  but  it  is  to  put  my  hand  in 
God's,  to  let  him  direct  its  service  and  bestow 
the  strength  which  will  make  that  strength 
efficient.  Consequences  are  with  him;  and 
with  him  is  the  reward.  "What  I  fear  most 
is  lest  some  call  to  duty  be  left  unheeded." 
This  saying  of  Mary  Lyon,  which  was  the 
motto  of  her  life,  is  the  motto  of  every  life  that 
is  truly  given  to  his  service.  As  Jesus  himself 
came  out  of  Bethlehem  and  carried  with  him 
to  his  death  the  burden  of  being  despised  and 
rejected,  one  so  little  esteemed  that  men  hid 
their  faces  from  him,  and  yet  never  faltered  in 
his  service,  so  we  are  to  think  little  of  our 
Bethlehem  of  circumstances  or  endowment, 
and  are  to  press  forward,  concerned  only  that 
we  do  not  fail  in  the  duty  which  God  has  ap- 
pointed to  us.  The  glory  oflBethlehem  to-day, 
the  inspiration  that  comes  from  it,  undiminish- 
ing  through  the  centuries  more  surely  than  is 
the  energy  of  radium,  is  its  testimony  both 
to  the  love  and  the  power  of  God  effectively 
to  deliver  us,  his  children,  from  ourselves,  to 
carry  our  weaknesses,  to  blot  out  our  trans- 
gressions, to  inspire  new  hopes,  to  bestow  that 
newness  of  life  which  will  enable  us,  however 
insignificant,  however  humble,  nay,  however 


214    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

sinful,  to  play  our  part,  to  do  God's  work  and 
ours,  and  not  to  fail  at  last  of  the  great  reward. 

We  may  well  make  our  own  this  prayer  of 
the  late  Dr.  James  Martineau : 

"O  thou  Eternal,  in  whose  appointment  my 
life  standeth,  thou  hast  committed  to  me  my 
work;  and  I  would  commit  to  thee  my  cares. 
May  I  wait  upon  thy  seasons,  and  leave  myself 
to  thee.  May  I  feel  that  I  am  not  my  own,  and 
that  thou  wilt  heed  my  wants  while  I  am  in- 
tent upon  thy  will.  May  I  never  walk  anx- 
iously, as  if  my  path  were  hid,  but  with  a  mind 
fixed  simply  upon  the  charge  intrusted  to  me, 
and  desiring  nothing  but  the  dispositions  of 
thy  providence.  More  and  more  fill  me  with  a 
pity  for  others'  trouble  which  shall  bring  for- 
getfulness  of  my  own,  with  the  charity  of  them 
that  know  their  own  unworthiness,  with  the 
promptitude  of  them  that  dare  not  boast  of 
to-morrow  and  the  glad  hope  of  the  children 
of  eternity.  Lead  me  in  the  straight  path  of 
simplicity  and  sanctity,  and  let  neither  the 
flatteries  nor  the  censures  of  men  draw  me 
aside  from  it.  And  unto  thee,  the  Beginning 
and  the  End,  Lord  of  the  living  and  Refuge 
of  the  dying,  be  thanks  and  praise  forever. 
Amen." 


XIX 

THE  VOICE  OF  GOD  IN  OUR  DAILY  LIFE 

"The  multitude  therefore,  that  stood  by,  and  heard  it, 
said  tliat  it  had  thundered:  others  said,  An  angel  hath 
spoken  to  him." — John  12.  29. 

The  surprise  of  the  text  is  that  when  God 
speaks  he  can  be  misunderstood.  We  know 
that  in  human  speech  as  much  depends  upon 
the  hearer  as  upon  the  speaker ;  as  Shakespeare 
long  ago  said,  "A  jest's  prosperity  lies  in  the 
ear  of  him  that  hears  it'';  but  we  are  not 
prepared  for  the  same  limitation  when  God 
speaks.  In  the  instance  before  us  the  narra- 
tive reads,  "There  came  therefore  a  voice  out 
of  heaven,"  with  the  immediate  comment  that 
the  multitude  said  that  it  had  "thundered"; 
while  still  others  said  that  it  was  "the  voice  of 
an  angel." 

Conditions  have  not  greatly  changed  to-day. 
We  find  ourselves  affected  by  two  as  widely 
different  comments  upon  most  occurrences. 
The  multitude  has  its  vociferous  opinion,  and 
we  are  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  their 
noisy  dominion.  Most  of  us  are  glad  not  to 
be  compelled  to  do  much  independent  think- 

215 


216    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

ing,  still  less  to  withhold  our  judgments  until 
we  have  carefully  gathered  the  facts.  It  is 
more  comfortable  to  do  as  others  do,  and  to 
think  as  others  think.  The  warning  of  the 
text  is  lest  we  may  be  tempted  to  do  so  when 
God  has  spoken,  and  thus  may  shut  ourselves 
out  from  hearing  his  voice  and  knowing  his 
will. 

This  brings  us  of  necessity  to  a  fundamental 
question:  Does  God  ever  speak  to  man?  or, 
Is  it  only  thunder,  that  is,  natural  law?  Two 
theories  of  God's  relation  to  the  natural  world 
have  been,  and,  perhaps  it  should  be  said,  are 
now,  widely  prevalent.  According  to  the  one, 
when  God  created  the  world  he  set  it  going  and 
retired,  waiting,  perhaps,  until  it  has  accom- 
plished his  purpose,  or,  like  a  run-down  clock, 
should  need  winding  up  again;  meanwhile  it 
is  sufficient  in  itself,  and  he  need  not  seriously 
concern  himself  about  it.  According  to  this 
conception  any  voice  of  God  coming  into  this 
world,  like  an  interference  of  God  in  its  opera- 
tion, would  be  inconceivable.  The  more  men 
learn  of  nature,  the  more  perfect,  the  more 
complete  and  adequate  seem  its  organization 
and  its  interlocking  machinery.  The  concep- 
tion of  the  universe  as  a  vast,  complicated,  but 
perfectly  organized  machine  appeals  to  the  hu- 
man mind.     Men  delight  in  order,  and  our 


GOD  IN  OUR  DAILY  LIFE  217 

conception  of  all  knowledge  that  is  worthy  of 
the  name,  or  is  to  be  thought  of  as  scientific, 
is  that  it  shall  be  completely  systematized.  In- 
deed, under  the  dominion  of  the  evolutionary 
idea  of  to-day,  the  monistic  conception  of  all 
existence  is  so  intellectually  truthful  that  not 
a  few  are  content  in  extending  it  until  it  shall 
embrace  all  conceivable  existence,  including 
God  himself.  From  this  standpoint  the  natural 
world  is  so  perfect  an  organism  that  there  is 
really  no  place  for  God  in  it,  or,  indeed,  any- 
where else  within  any  realm  with  which  we 
need  to  concern  ourselves,  and  obviously  the 
only  voice  of  God  that  can  possibly  be  looked 
for,  or  accepted,  is  man's  interpretation  of  na- 
ture. The  multitude  is  perfectly  justified  in 
saying  whenever  it  meets  a  claim  of  divine 
revelation,  or  of  special  utterance  of  divine 
word,  that  it  "thunders."  It  can  be  nothing 
that  is  worthy  of  the  attention  of  men  who  are 
busy  with  the  ordinary  concerns  of  daily  life. 
But  there  are  those  who  are  not  content 
with  this  interpretation  of  nature  in  its  rela- 
tion to  God.  They  conceive  of  God  as  immanent 
in  the  universe.  They  see  in  it  not  only  his 
handiwork,  but  his  abiding  presence.  Its  life 
is  his  life.  Its  functioning  is  his  doing.  Its 
progress  is  his  procedure.  Its  adjustments 
are  his  thinking.    If  anything  unusual  occurs 


218    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

which  by  any  possibility  can  be  regarded  as 
directed  to  man's  spiritual  life,  or  as  appealing 
to  his  inner  nature,  they  would  interpret  it 
as  belonging  to  phenomena  concerning  which 
we  are  not  adequately  informed.  It  is  occult, 
subconscious,  spiritualistic,  or  possibly,  in 
some  restricted  and  unknown  sense,  super- 
natural— "An  angel  hath  spoken."  And  there 
is  not  in  it  present  occasion  for  particular  con- 
cern on  the  part  of  men  who  have  their  own 
business  to  attend  to. 

But  when  we  open  the  Bible  we  find  there 
the  story  of  men  who  in  some  way  came  to 
know,  or  at  least  to  believe,  that  God  could 
speak  to  them.  So  firm  was  their  conviction 
and  so  positive  was  the  effect  of  it  upon  their 
lives  that  the  men  of  their  time  took  note  of 
them.  They  were  seen  to  differ  in  very  re- 
markable and  essential  degree  from  the  men 
about  them.  They  rose  in  their  lives,  as  well 
as  in  their  thoughts,  above  the  plane  of  the 
world  in  which  they  moved.  The  men  of  sub- 
sequent generations,  observing  this,  treasured 
their  memory  and  preserved  their  story.  Here 
is  a  long  array  of  them,  from  Enoch,  who 
"walked  with  God,  and  was  not,  for  God  took 
him,"  to  Abraham,  who  under  the  stars  of  the 
Palestinian  sky  talked  with  God  as  a  man 
talks    with    his    friend;    and    Jacob,    whose 


GOD  IN  OUR  DAILY  LIFE  219 

troubled  life  was  still  filled  with  the  sense  of 
God's  presence  and  the  sure  consciousness  of 
God's  guidance;  and  David,  coming  out  of  the 
sheepfold  into  the  life  of  the  great  king  of 
Israel,  the  sweet  singer  whose  psalms  have 
found  entrance  into  and  have  been  the  best 
expression  of  the  deepest  thoughts  of  human 
hearts;  and  Stephen,  who  laid  down  his  life 
for  his  faith,  and  who  in  the  moment  of  death 
believed  that  he  saw  the  face  of  his  Lord ;  and 
Paul,  to  whom  God  spoke  on  the  way  to  Da- 
mascus, and  who  ever  after  had  the  conscious- 
ness that  God  was  with  him,  directing  his  life 
and  helping  him  to  do  the  work  which  has 
changed  the  face  of  the  centuries.  These  were 
the  first  of  what  we  know  as  old-fashioned 
Christians,  who  at  least  labored  under  the  con- 
viction that  God  had  spoken  to  them,  and  in 
their  sturdy  effort  to  obey  his  voice  subdued 
kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  obtained 
promises,  endured  bitter  trials  and  mockings, 
and  wrought  the  great  deeds  which  have 
helped  forward  all  that  is  worth  preserving 
in  this  troubled  world,  which  has  been  little 
worthy  of  them. 

When,  reading  their  story,  we  come  to  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  and  find  in  him  the  pattern  man, 
we  discover  also  that  he  heard  God.  The  great 
fact  with  him,  as  we  read  the  Gospels,  is  his 


220    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

ever-present  consciousness  of  God.  It  is  a 
constant  intercourse.  When  he  speaks,  he 
speaks  the  word  of  God.  When  he  has  a  great 
work  to  do,  he  appeals  to  the  strength  of  God 
who  was  with  him  in  the  act.  When  he  is 
burdened  and  weary,  he  goes  alone  upon  the 
mountain,  that  he  may  spend  hours  in  com- 
munication with  God.  In  the  supreme  mo- 
ments of  his  life,  as  on  the  Mount  of  the  Trans- 
figuration, in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  and 
on  the  cross,  we  find  him  absorbed  with  the 
Divine  Presence,  or,  if  for  a  moment  it  seems 
to  be  withdrawn,  crying  out  for  its  return, 
with  a  cry  that  would  indicate  that  life  was 
not  possible  to  him  apart  from  the  realized 
presence  of  God.  In  the  present  instance  it 
was  entirely  in  keeping  with  all  we  know  of 
him  that  disregarding  the  others  he  should 
proceed  to  interpret  the  voice. 

When,  therefore,  men  have  said  to  us  all 
that  is  to  be  said  about  the  uniformity  of  na- 
ture and  the  sufficiency  of  natural  law,  and 
have  supplemented  this  with  wise  teachings 
drawn  from  man's  history  and  from  philoso- 
phy, and  we  turn  to  Jesus  Christ,  we  find  our- 
selves moved  to  ask  what  it  would  mean  to  us 
individually  if  it  should  be  given  to  us  to  know 
God  as  he  knew  him,  or  to  have  our  ears  at- 
tuned to  hear  God's  voice,  and  to  have  it  pos- 


GOD  IN  OUR  DAILY  LIFE  221 

sible  for  our  lives  to  be  directed  by  words  of 
his,  which,  speaking  to  the  inward  ear  of  the 
soul,  if  not  to  the  outward  ear  of  the  body, 
would  at  once  enlighten  and  inspire  our  daily 
life?  Would  you  not  wish  it?  And  if  we  are, 
as  we  delight  to  believe,  indeed  children  of 
God,  why  should  we  not  expect  it?  Is  it  con- 
ceivable that  our  Father  in  heaven  has  so  far 
forgotten  his  children,  or  removed  himself 
from  them,  as  to  leave  them  no  other  communi- 
cation with  himself  and  no  other  knowledge 
of  himself  than  is  to  be  gathered  from  ancient 
tales  of  his  doings  in  the  original  creation,  so 
long  ago  that  no  record  of  them  remains,  and 
the  imagination  falters  in  trying  to  arrive  at 
them?  Surely  it  is  easier  for  the  Christian  to 
believe  that  God  not  only  desires  to  speak  to 
him,  but  can  speak  to  him,  and  does  speak,  in 
ways  that  are  intended  to  be  effective,  and 
that  if  we  fail  to  hear  such  voice  or  to  recog- 
nize it  the  cause  lies  in  ourselves. 

This  brings  us,  then,  to  the  final  question. 
How  can  we  hear  God's  voice?  for  we  must 
assume  that,  as  we  believe  there  is  a  God,  he 
from  time  to  time  is  speaking  to  us.  Obviously 
the  first  necessity  is  that  we  expect  the  voice 
and  make  ready  for  it.  The  common  experi- 
ence is  that  men  see  what  they  look  for,  and 
hear  when  they  listen.    A  woman  is  interest- 


222    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

edly  talking  with  you.  Her  mind  is  appar- 
ently wholly  engaged  in  what  she  is  saying 
or  hearing.  Suddenly,  without  your  noticing 
that  anything  has  occurred,  she  turns  sharply 
from  you.  She  has  heard  the  voice  of  her  little 
child,  for  which  her  ear  was  always  open,  and 
which  at  the  first  note  she  heard,  and  you  did 
not.  Many  footsteps  are  passing  in  the  street. 
One  is  instantly  recognized,  because  there  was 
one  in  the  waiting  group  who  was  listening 
for  it,  and  momentarily  expected  it.  A  great 
tragedy  is  represented  on  the  stage;  the  audi- 
ence is  held  spellbound.  Behind  it  is  a  small 
group  of  men  busily  adjusting  the  stage  scen- 
ery, entirely  indifferent  both  to  the  play  and 
the  audience,  so  absorbed  are  they  in  the  stage 
mechanism,  which  is  dependent  upon  their 
control.  That  old  man  with  the  bag  on  his 
back  and  an  iron  hook  in  his  hand  moves 
through  the  crowd  on  the  sidewalk,  seeing 
neither  the  beautiful  array  of  the  ladies  he 
passes  nor  the  splendor  of  the  equipages  on  the 
avenue,  so  intent  is  he  on  the  ash-barrels  and 
their  contents.  If,  then,  we  are  to  hear  the 
voice  of  God,  and  to  catch  its  significance,  we 
must  have  in  our  hearts  the  thought  of  God  as 
our  Friend,  in  whose  love  we  are  living,  and  to 
every  indication  of  whose  will  we  are  looking 
for  the  direction  and  control  of  our  life.    Ob- 


GOD  IN  OUR  DAILY  LIFE  223 

viously,  if  we  do  not  stand  in  that  relation  to 
him,  if  we  have  no  such  thought  in  our  mind 
or  in  our  heart,  if,  indeed,  we  are  uncertain 
whether  we  wish  to  hear  his  voice,  or,  perhaps, 
are  certain  that  we  do  not  wish  to  hear  it,  for 
we  have  no  purpose  of  obeying  it,  manifestly 
if  he  does  speak,  we  are  not  likely  to  know  it ; 
or,  if  arrested  by  it,  will  be  very  sure  to  find 
it  easy  to  mistake  it  for  something  else. 

Again,  if  we  are  to  hear  God^s  voice  we  must 
have  some  knowledge  of  the  direction  in  which 
it  is  likely  to  come,  and  of  the  notes  by  which 
we  shall  recognize  it.  These  are  not  hard  to 
determine,  and  yet  many  seem  sadly  perplexed 
as  they  ask.  How  can  we  know  God  speaks, 
or  what  God  would  have  us  do?  If  we  recog- 
nize that  our  relation  to  God  is  not  a  casual 
or  occasional  one,  but  is  constant ;  if  we  really 
believe  that  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and 
have  our  being ;  if  we  are  prepared  to  find  both 
the  joy  and  the  strength  of  life  in  that  relation- 
ship, then  we  may  look  for  God's  voice  coming 
to  us  in  ways  that  are  simple  and  not  hard  to 
understand. 

The  first  of  these  appears  in  an  oppor- 
tunity. The  occasion  for  action  or  choice  ap- 
pears. It  is  the  next  thing  to  be  done,  or  left 
undone.  It  represents  life  as  at  that  moment 
life  is  to  us  in  its  most  definite  and  tangible 


224    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

form.  It  is  a  call.  So  far,  then,  the  oppor- 
tunity is  the  voice  of  God  speaking  to  us  of 
what  he  would  have  us  do,  because  he  has  ap- 
parently opened  the  way  for  our  doing  it.  But 
we  also  know  that  God  sometimes  opens  doors 
to  test  us,  and  that  there  are  doors  through 
which  he  would  have  us  know  his  will  and 
show  our  obedience  by  not  entering  them. 
George  Mtiller,  of  Bristol,  the  man  of  faith, 
laid  much  emphasis  upon  this.  This  is  one  of 
the  ripest,  if  not  the  earliest,  experiences  of 
the  man  who  seeks  to  do  the  will  of  God  and 
to  grow  in  Christian  knowledge. 

Therefore  beyond  the  opportunity  we  must 
seek  also  the  voice  of  duty.  If  with  the  oppor- 
tunity there  arises  in  the  heart  the  feeling  that 
it  would  be  right  to  do  the  thing  that  offers, 
and,  whatever  the  cost  or  the  sacrifice,  the 
duty  at  least  is  clear,  then  the  voice  of  God 
becomes  more  definite  and  begins  to  be  im- 
pelling. 

Then  we  remember  that  God  has  often 
spoken  in  the  past  to  those  who  love  him,  and 
we  have  the  record  of  that  speech  in  the  Bible. 
If,  then,  when  we  turn  to  the  Bible  we  find 
that  the  teaching  of  the  Bible,  or  what  we  may 
regard  as  the  echo  of  God's  voice  coming  to 
us  out  of  the  past,  corresponds  with  what  ap- 
pears the  call  of  duty  and  the  present  oppor- 


GOD  IN  OUR  DAILY  LIFE  225 

tunity,  the  voice  becomes  more  distinct  and 
the  call  more  imperative. 

This  drives  us  to  interrogate  our  own  hearts 
more  carefully,  and  when  we  find  that  the 
voice  of  conscience  begins  to  speak  in  the  same 
direction  with  something  of  insistence,  we  are 
strengthened  in  our  thought  that  there  can  be 
no  mistake  in  the  voice  that  we  have  heard. 

But  if  we  would  be  sure  we  turn  to  our 
friends ;  and  then  we  are  glad  if  we  have  some 
friends,  or  even  one,  who  we  know  is  accus- 
tomed to  walk  humbly  with  God,  whose  life 
shows  that  he  hears  a  divine  voice  which  he 
obeys  and  whose  spirit  is  manifestly  that  of 
one  who  knows  God  as  a  friend.  We  are  glad 
to  turn  to  such  a  friend  and  lay  the  case  before 
him;  and,  if  we  find  that  his  judgment  cor- 
responds with  the  purpose  forming  in  our  own 
hearts,  we  become  again  more  deeply  assured 
that  the  opening  way  is  a  divinely  appointed 
path. 

As  thus  persuaded  we  begin  to  move  in  that 
opening  path,  whether  it  be  hard  or  easy, 
whether  it  is  a  way  that  we  have  long  sought, 
or  one  into  which  we  find  ourselves  impelled, 
it  may  be,  with  costly  sacrifice,  in  the  one  case 
or  in  the  other  a  new  peace  begins  to  reveal 
itself  in  the  heart  with  the  sweet  consciousness 
that  we  are  doing  the  will  of  God  and  that 


226    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

his  blessing  is  upon  us.  The  story  is  told  of 
Algernon  Sidney  that  when,  under  sentence 
of  death,  he  was  awaiting  the  hour  for  his 
execution  and  a  messenger  came  from  his 
father  who  pleaded  with  him  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  which  would  save  his  life,  he 
sent  back  this  answer:  "I  have  long  been  of 
the  mind  that  if  the  time  should  ever  come 
when  I  could  not  save  my  life,  but  by  doing 
an  act  that  would  be  unworthy  of  me,  I  would 
understand  it  as  indicating  that  God  meant 
me  then  to  return  to  him  the  life  which  he 
had  intrusted  to  me."  Here  was  a  man  who 
knew  God  so  intimately  that  he  not  only 
knew  that  God  could  speak  to  him,  but  he 
taught  himself  to  catch  the  message  and  rightly 
to  interpret  it  whenever  and  in  whatever  way 
it  should  come.  He  had  no  occasion  to  wait 
for  the  clamor  of  the  multitude,  or  the  pro- 
nouncement of  the  few,  even  if  it  might  be  the 
voice  of  those  who  were  the  nearest  and  the 
dearest  to  him. 

But  we  not  only  have  to  expect  God's  voice, 
making  ready  for  it,  and  teaching  ourselves 
to  recognize  it,  if  we  would  hear  it,  but  we  must 
also  be  prompt  to  obey  it  when  it  is  heard. 
There  are  three  stages  in  obeying  the  voice  of 
God,  or  what  the  New  Testament  calls  the 
teaching  of  the  Spirit  of  God.    The  first  stage 


GOD  IN  OUR  DAILY  LIFE  227 

is  when  the  voice  comes,  and  is  heard.  At 
the  moment  we  are  startled.  It  seems  easy 
to  obey  it  then,  if  only  we  act.  If  we  delay 
and  begin  to  argue  with  ourselves  it  quickly 
becomes  more  difficult,  and  the  longer  the 
delay,  the  more  tremulous  the  hesitation,  the 
more  difficult  becomes  obedience;  until  we 
reach  the  third  stage  when,  because  of  the 
delay  and  the  parleying,  it  has  become  prac- 
tically impossible. 

This  goes  far  to  explain  why  so  many  who 
regard  themselves  Christians  are  doubtful  of 
the  reality  of  God's  voice  ever  speaking  to 
them,  or  are  ready  to  deny  its  possibility. 
They  have  argued  about  it  so  long  that  they 
not  only  become  doubtful  of  hearing  it,  but 
incapable  of  obeying  when  they  do  hear  it.  In 
that  way  we  lower  our  faith  to  the  plane  of 
our  living,  and  when  the  life  is  indifferent  to 
God,  or  rebellious,  the  faith  walks  heavily 
in  its  train,  and  we  begin  to  deny  what  was 
once  to  us  a  blessed  truth.  But  when  we  have 
walked  in  a  different  course  and  have  held 
ourselves  to  prompt  obedience,  then  we  find 
both  strength  and  peace.  Turn  to  the  lives 
of  any  of  the  notable  Christians.  Sit  with 
William  Carey,  the  young  shoemaker,  as  with 
other  young  men  of  his  day  in  the  Bible  class 
he  inquires  of  the  learned  pastor  about  the 


228     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

heathen  and  what  is  to  be  their  destiny,  and 
hears  the  imperious  answer,  "Whatever  God's 
plans  with  them  may  be,  you  have  no  duty 
in  that  direction."  Then  go  with  him  on 
his  solitary  journey  to  London  to  ask  if  he 
may  go  to  the  heathen ;  and  stand  with  him  in 
the  canebrake  in  India,  where  in  disguise  he 
is  working  as  a  laborer  that  he  may  earn  his 
living,  acquire  the  language,  and  fit  himself 
for  that  missionary  service  from  which  he  will 
not  be  gainsaid,  because  he  has  heard  the  voice 
of  God  calling  him  to  it.  Or  turn  to  the 
story  of  Charles  Gordon  at  Khartoum,  or  John 
Lawrence  in  India,  or  James  Chalmers,  so 
gladly  laying  down  his  life  for  the  men  who 
murdered  him  in  New  Guinea,  and  you  will 
find  what  it  means  when  we  speak  of  the 
strength  and  possibility  of  the  men  who  heard 
the  voice  of  God,  because  they  were  ready  so 
gladly  to  obey  it.  Is  there  any  reason  why  you 
and  I  should  not  have  the  same  privilege  and 
the  same  blessing ;  or  that  our  God  should  not 
be  our  constant  Friend,  or  that  we  should  not 
knov/  that  he  is  never  far  from  any  one  of  us? 


XX 

THE  KINDNESS  OF  GOD 

"And  the  king  said,  Is  there  not  yet  any  of  the  house 
of  Saul,  that  I  may  show  the  kindness  of  God  unto 
him?"— 2  Samuel  9.  3. 

David,  the  king  of  Israel,  learned  this 
phrase  from  Jonathan,  his  friend.  Some  time 
before,  when  he  had  discovered  that  SauFs 
hatred  for  him  was  deep  and  permanent,  and 
he  had  turned  with  his  distress  to  Jonathan, 
SauFs  son,  Jonathan  cheered  him  by  assuring 
him  that  God  was  on  his  side,  and  that  in  the 
end  David  would  be  exalted  and  the  house 
of  Saul  overthrown.  In  witness  to  the  sin- 
cerity of  his  words  he  asked  David  to  promise 
that  when  the  day  should  come  in  which 
David's  enemies  were  cut  off,  in  that  day 
David  would  show  him  and  his  house  "the 
loving-kindness  of  Jehovah."  The  phrase 
found  a  lodgment  in  David's  heart;  and  now, 
years  afterward,  when  both  Saul  and  Jona- 
than are  dead  and  David  gets  that  revelation 
of  the  love  of  a  friend  which  so  often  comes 
when  death  has  separated  us  forever,  he  breaks 
out  in  a  eulogy  over  Jonathan  which  has  been 

229 


230    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

cherished  in  this  Old  Testament  narrative  and 
has  furnished  a  beautiful  final  phrase  that 
has  been  on  the  lips  of  men  ever  since: 

"How  are  the  mighty  fallen  in  the  midst  of  the  battle! 

Jonathan  is  slain  upon  thy  high  places. 

I  am  distressed  for  thee,  my  brother  Jonathan. 

Very  pleasant  hast  thou  been  unto  me : 

Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful, 

Passing  the  love  of  women." 

Then  he  remembers  Jonathan's  words  and 
awakens  to  the  thought  that  here  is  the  real 
source  of  Jonathan's  love  for  him.  He  knew 
himself  the  kindness  of  God.  It  had  been 
the  inspiration  in  Jonathan's  life,  and  had 
wrought  in  him  that  beautiful  character  which 
made  Jonathan  so  attractive  and  gave  him 
such  dominion  over  the  hearts  of  Israel.  This 
was  the  spring  from  which  flowed  the  love 
that  was  now  so  precious  to  David.  As  he 
thought  upon  it  the  impulse  naturally  came, 
"Ought  I  not  to  feel  the  same,  and  can  I  not 
pass  it  on  to  others?"  Therefore,  he  asks,  "Is 
there  yet  any  left  of  the  house  of  Saul,  that  I 
may  show  him  kindness  for  Jonathan's  sake?'^ 
And  when  the  former  servant  of  Saul  is 
brought  to  him  he  repeats  the  question  in  the 
form  of  the  text.  "The  kindness  of  God"  is 
the  compelling  force  in  his  heart. 

So  he  sends  for  Mephibosheth,  Jonathan's 


THE  KINDNESS  OF  GOD  231 

son,  who  alone  has  survived  from  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  house  of  Saul.  He  is  a  helpless 
cripple,  so  insignificant  and  so  helpless  that 
he  has  been  overlooked  in  the  general  slaughter 
and  has  been  cared  for  and  taken  to  the  home 
of  one  of  his  father's  friends,  Machir,  the  son 
of  Ammiel,  who,  stirred  by  the  same  love 
which  Jonathan  had  shown  to  David,  and  hav- 
ing also  some  feeling  for  the  kindness  of  God, 
risks  his  own  life  in  protecting  the  helpless 
youth.  David's  troubles  had  called  out  Jona- 
than's affection,  and  the  disaster  upon  the 
house  of  Saul  had  done  the  same  for  Machir. 

Troubles  are  plenty  in  life.  It  is  of  no  use 
to  make  light  of  them. 

"Before  the  beginning  of  years 

There  came  to  the  making  of  man 
Life  with  the  gift  of  tears, 
Time  with  the  glass  that  ran." 

Here  is  one  certain  offset  to  trouble.  Sor- 
row and  pain  remain  the  great  mystery;  and 
there  is  much  to  be  said  by  the  Christian  of 
their  place  in  the  plan  of  God.  But  when  all 
is  said  they  still  return  with  sharp  and  often 
overwhelming  impact  even  upon  the  stoutest 
hearts.  We  are  reminded  that  the  "pleasures 
of  each  generation  evaporate  in  thin  air.  It 
is  their  pains  that  increase  the  spiritual  mo- 
mentum of  the  world."     But  we  are  always 


232     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

glad  when  we  can  get  hold  of  some  immediate 
good  that  follows  upon  sharp  distress,  and  we 
are  glad  to  try  to  comfort  ourselves  with  it. 
These  were  bitter  days  in  Israel.  Saul,  their 
first  king,  the  hope  of  Israel,  was  dead.  En- 
emies were  everywhere.  David,  as  yet,  was 
little  known  and  was  a  man  of  war.  War,  in- 
deed, seemed  to  be  the  normal  condition  of 
the  life  of  Israel,  just  as  the  war  of  selfish 
interest  is  normal  in  the  world  to-day.  Out  of 
this,  as  a  valley  of  shadows,  a  thicket  of  vague 
impending  evils,  sprang  this  sudden  revelation 
of  kindness  and  love.  It  is  often  so.  Trouble 
is  a  fertile  soil  for  such  growth.  The  poor  are 
the  quickest  and  the  most  generous  in  helping 
the  poor.  The  most  sacrificial  gifts  are  to  be 
found  among  those  who  are  so  often  seen 
dividing  their  last  meal  with  neighbors  who 
have  nothing.  The  great  truth  that  Chalmers 
taught  in  his  parish  in  Glasgow,  and  which 
the  charitable  world  is  finding  that  it  is  slow 
to  learn  even  now,  is  that  the  great  danger  of 
official  charity,  however  efficient  and  well  ad- 
ministered, is  that  it  may  dry  up  these  springs 
of  immediate  and  generous  helpfulness  which 
are  ever  opening  among  the  poor  in  their  rela- 
tions one  with  another.  Organized  charity  is 
necessary.  And  most  philanthropists  are  com- 
pelled to  work  through  agents  who  are  trained, 


THE  KINDNESS  OF  GOD  233 

or  have  the  time  to  give  to  the  care  of  the  in- 
dividual sufferer ;  but  the  fact  is  none  the  less 
true  that  the  price  that  is  often  paid  for  such 
effective  assistance  is  a  costly  one  in  the  loss 
of  that  kind  neighborly  interest  which  keeps 
life  human  even  in  the  dirtiest  tenement  and 
the  darkest  alley. 

But  we  cannot  stop  to  dwell  upon  this.  We 
notice  that  this  kindness  of  God,  which  ap- 
peared working  in  Jonathan  and  then  in 
David,  is  a  productive  kindness.  It  has  life. 
It  reproduces  itself.  It  bears  fruit.  This  at 
once  interests  us.  The  great  and  carefully 
thought  out  benefactions  proclaimed  in  the 
legacies  of  some  recently  dead  millionaire  stir 
the  business  community,  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  no  less  than  they  do  the  outside 
world.  Many  another  rich  man  is  moved  to 
consider  what  he  shall  do  with  his  money. 
Many  another  millionaire  finds  himself  yield- 
ing to  impulses  of  thoughtful  benevolence 
which  have  hitherto  dwelt  only  on  the  out- 
skirts of  his  mind,  or  which  have  had  no  place 
at  all  in  his  thoughts.  Many  a  will  is  carefully 
rewritten.  Many  a  request  for  aid,  which  has 
been  lightly  put  aside,  is  reconsidered.  How 
much  more  is  this  true  when  a  benefactor  gives 
himself!  Florence  Nightingale  was  followed 
to  the  Crimea  by  a  crowd  of  young  English- 


234    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

women  to  face  the  horrors  of  Sevastopol  and 
the  Scutari  hospital,  and  her  name  remains  a 
sweet  fragrance  and  an  abiding  inspiration, 
because  she  gave  herself  to  a  task  so  distress- 
ing in  its  first  presentation  and  so  bitter  and 
so  prolonged  in  its  miseries  that  all  the  world 
wondered. 

In  a  great  English  city  the  silent  monument 
to  "Sister  Dora,"  in  the  Public  Square,  tells 
a  similar  tale  of  heroic  devotion,  which  stirs 
many  a  kindly  impulse  in  the  passing  crowd. 
This  is  the  visible  source  of  the  power  of  the 
foreign  missionary.  "Now  I  know  what  it 
has  cost  you  to  come  to  us  and  live  with  us," 
said  a  Barotsi  chief,  to  Francois  Coillard,  the 
French  missionary  in  Central  Africa,  when 
the  chief  had  returned  from  his  visit  to  Eng- 
land. And  the  graves  of  that  devoted  servant 
of  God  with  his  equally  devoted  wife  under 
the  great  tree  in  the  heart  of  Africa  are  to-day 
only  one  of  the  multitude  of  similar  witnesses 
to  the  kindness  of  God,  awakening  an  immeas- 
urable love  in  the  hearts  of  Christian  men  for 
their  fellow  men,  which  are  to  be  seen  on  every 
mission  field. 

The  wonderful  truth  is  that  everyone  can  do 
this,  show  a  kindness  that  carries  something  of 
oneself.  It  is  so  simple  and  so  easy,  and  the 
opportunities  are  so  constant.     Just  to  give 


THE  KINDNESS  OF  GOD  235 

oneself !  Being  what  we  are,  and  having  only 
what  we  have,  to  put  oneself  at  the  disposal  of 
another's  need!  The  immediate  outcome  is 
that  such  kindness  lives.  We  die,  as  Jonathan 
did.  The  occasion  that  called  forth  the  kind- 
ness passes  away.  Perhaps,  indeed,  it  is  for- 
gotten, but  the  deed  itself  is  like  seed  in  the 
ground.  It  may  lie  a  long  time;  by  and  by  it 
springs  up  and  bears  fruit.  Such  kindness, 
then,  is  well  worth  the  while.  It  is  very  beau- 
tiful in  itself,  nothing  more  so — just  to  be 
kind,  to  see  another's  need,  to  try  to  compre- 
hend it  and  feel  it,  to  lend  a  hand.  How  it 
smoothes  out  trouble!  How  it  changes  the 
aspect  of  life!  What  friends  it  makes  for  a 
lifetime!  Sometimes  it  is  only  a  very  little 
thing  that  is  done.  We  utterly  forget  it  our- 
selves. Even  a  passing  smile,  an  encourag- 
ing word,  a  touch  of  sympathy,  and  a  down- 
cast one  is  cheered;  new  courage  comes  to  a 
despondent  heart. 

David  went  off  into  the  wilderness  prepared 
to  endure  bitter  exile  among  the  Philistines 
and  the  mongrel  companionship  of  the  cave  of 
Adullam  because  of  Jonathan's  love.  And  now 
Machir,  and,  indeed,  all  the  people,  felt  some- 
thing of  the  same,  as  they  heard  the  new  king 
asking  for  Jonathan's  son  that  he  might  show 
to  him  the  kindness  of  God. 


236     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

But,  again,  we  pass  on  from  that.  It  was 
"the  kindness  of  God''  that  went  to  the  heart 
of  the  people.  This  was  destined  to  become  a 
frequent  expression  in  Israel.  The  Psalms  are 
full  of  it.  "His  loving-kindness  is  great  to- 
ward us."  "We  have  thought  on  thy  loving- 
kindness,  O  God.''  "Thy  loving-kindness  is 
better  than  life."  "Who  crowneth  thee  with 
loving-kindness  and  tender  mercies."  "Thou 
showest  loving-kindness  unto  thousands."  "I 
am  Jehovah  who  exerciseth  loving-kindness."^ 

So  we  ask,  what  is  this  kindness  of  God?  It 
is  what  inspires  all  good  in  men.  There  is 
good  in  all  men,  probably  much  more  than  we 
think.  It  gets  buried,  like  a  live  coal  under 
ashes,  and  the  ashes  accumulate.  But  we  de- 
light in  the  good  whenever  it  comes  to  light. 
It  makes  all  the  world  kin.  It  is  the  real 
"touch  of  nature,"  for,  in  fact,  whether  men 
believe  it  or  not,  we  all  are  God's  children. 
David  discovered  this  kindness  in  his  own 
heart  as  he  had  seen  it  in  Jonathan's,  and  he 
recognized  with  Jonathan's  help  that  it  was 
from  God.  The  loving-kindness  that  he  was 
moved  to  show  to  Mephibosheth  was  only  the 
expression  of  a  forbearance  and  a  tenderness 
which  he  had  received  himself  from  God,  just 
as  Jonathan  had.    And  it  was  that  which  kept 

^Psa.  117.  2;  48.  9;  63.  3;  103.  4;  Jer.  32.  18;  9.  24. 


THE  KINDNESS  OF  GOD  237 

love  alive  in  his  heart.  He  knew  that  it  came 
from  an  inexhaustible  source,  and  therefore 
he  could  trust  the  impulse  in  his  own  heart, 
and  could  look  for  a  response  to  it  in  the 
hearts  of  others. 

We  delight  to  think  that  God  has  made  us 
so.  We  call  this  human  capacity  for  kindness 
normal;  and  we  are  glad  to  believe  that  it  is 
closely  connected  with  the  main  purpose  of 
life.  God  has  placed  us  all  in  conditions  to 
develop  it.  God  constantly  deals  with  us  so 
as  to  promote  it.  Nothing  is  sadder  than  to 
find  it  crushed  out  of  a  man's  heart,  or  a  man 
brought  to  think  that  it  is  so  obliterated. 
When  one  is  persuaded  of  this  he  comes  as 
near  to  being  a  beast  as  a  man  can  be.  Indeed, 
the  difference  between  human  kindness  and 
that  which  is  its  nearest  counterpart  in  the 
heart  of  an  animal  is  that  in  man  it  is  to  be 
recognized  as  a  part  of  his  humanity,  a  wit- 
ness to  his  origin,  and  really  essential  if  he  is 
to  fulfill  the  purpose  of  his  being.  Without 
it  we  can  hardly  conceive  of  him  as  a  man. 

So,  again,  this  loving-kindness  is  of  the  na- 
ture of  God.  It  is  God's  character ;  for  "God 
is  love,"  in  the  sententious  phrase  of  the  apos- 
tle. If  we  only  knew  God  better  we  would  see 
this.  Men  doubt  it,  and  when  sorrow  comes, 
or  great  disaster,  cry  out  against  God,  only 


238    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

because  they  do  not  know  God.  They  deny  his 
existence,  or  attempt  to  portray  him  in  the 
overwhelming  forces  of  nature,  in  the  pesti- 
lence, or  the  earthquake ;  or  they  think  of  him 
as  an  omnipotent  power,  remote  and  austere 
in  his  judgments.  They  do  not  realize  that 
the  kindness  of  God  is  God  himself.  But  the 
heart  that  opens  to  this  truth  gets  a  vision  of 
love  that  transfigures  life  in  all  its  conditions. 
It  is  this  love  of  God  and  faith  in  God  that 
make  life  patient  and  strong  and  tender  and 
self-forgetful,  and  always  so  beautiful,  wher- 
ever it  is  found,  whether  in  the  alley  or  in  the 
palace. 

For  this  kindness  of  God  is  Jesus  Christ. 
In  him  dwells  "the  fullness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily."  All  of  God  that  could  be  made  mani- 
fest to  men  was  made  manifest  in  him.  And 
when  we  turn  to  him  and  read  his  story  from 
beginning  to  end,  it  is  the  revelation  of  the 
loving-kindness  of  God.  Its  inner  note  was, 
"Peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men."  It  quickly 
brought  an  infinite  peace  into  the  heart  of 
Mary,  and  then  of  Joseph,  and  then  of  one  and 
another  saintly  soul  who  came  within  its  in- 
fluence. Then  we  see  it  reaching  out  and  gath- 
ering in  poor  fishermen  distraught  with  doubts 
and  fears,  Israelites,  indeed,  but  with  despair- 
ing hearts  both  for  their  country  and  for  them- 


THE  KINDNESS  OF  GOD  239 

selves,  transforming  them  into  messengers  of 
life  and  of  light,  first  to  their  countrymen  and 
then  to  the  world. 

Then  it  lays  hold  of  the  "woman  that  was 
a  sinner,"  and  of  the  outcast  leper,  and  the 
widow  by  the  bier  of  her  only  son  in  the  gate- 
way of  the  little  city  of  Nain.  Then  in  the 
sorrowing  home  in  Bethany  we  hear  for  the 
first  time  the  blessed  word  that  has  brought 
the  comfort  of  God  as  well  as  the  kindness 
of  God.  into  thousands  of  sorrowing  homes  ever 
since:  "I  am  the  resurrection,  and  the  life: 
he  that  believeth  on  me,  though  he  die,  yet 
shall  he  live."  Then  we  stand  on  Calvary,  and 
we  hear  again,  "Father,  forgive  them ;  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do."  And  the  final  mes- 
sage is,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  with  this 
news,  the  kindness  of  God  is  for  you!"  So 
Jesus  gave  himself  for  us  that  we  might  know 
what  God's  love  is  and  that  we  might  show 
kindness  to  one  another.  Thus  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  has  become  itself  the  final  and 
sufficient  revelation  of  God  and  the  abiding 
inspiration  of  all  that  is  best  in  the  life  of  men. 


XXI 

LIFE'S  GREAT  TRUSTS ' 

"For  in  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry,  nor  are 
given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  angels  in  heaven." — 
Matthew  22.  30. 

It  was  our  Lord's  method  to  proclaim  a 
great  truth  under  a  concrete  example.  He 
pointed  to  the  lilies  and  compared  their  deli- 
cate beauty  with  Solomon  in  all  his  glory.  As 
the  eyes  of  his  hearers  wander  over  the  fields  he 
seizes  the  opportunity  to  warn  them  against 
worrying  about  the  things  of  daily  life  and  ask- 
ing, "What  shall  we  eat,  or  wherewithal  shall 
we  be  clothed?"  saying  to  them,  "Your  heav- 
enly Father  knoweth  that  you  have  need  of 
all  these  things."  "Behold  the  birds  of  the 
heaven;  your  heavenly  Father  feedeth  them. 
Are  not  ye  of  much  more  value  than  they?" 
He  spoke  of  the  joy  of  the  shepherd  who  finds 
the  sheep  that  is  lost,  and  he  makes  it  the  occa- 
sion to  emphasize  the  joy  among  the  angels 
of  God  over  one  sinner  who  repents.  He  looks 
at  the  penny  to  be  paid  in  tribute,  and  he  says, 
"Render  unto  Csesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are 

240 


LIFE'S  GREAT  TRUSTS  241 

God's."  An  eager  complainant  comes  urging 
him  to  command  his  brother  to  divide  with 
him  the  inheritance.  He  says,  "Who  made 
me  a  divider  among  you?"  and  at  once  tells  the 
story  of  a  certain  rich  man  who  was  increased 
with  goods,  but  who  was  a  fool,  to  impress  the 
great  truth  that  religion  is  not  to  be  exploited 
for  the  profit  that  there  may  be  in  it.  So,  with 
the  text,  when  certain  Sadducees,  who  believed 
there  is  no  after  life  and,  therefore,  no  resur- 
rection, sought  to  pose  him  with  the  question 
of  the  much-married  woman,  his  answer  is, 
"In  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry,  nor 
are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  angels  in 
heaven."  And  we  now  turn  to  it,  forgetting 
the  mocking  Sadducees  and  seeking  to  possess 
ourselves  of  the  underlying  truth,  which  our 
Lord  takes  that  opportunity  to  emphasize. 

We  observe  that  in  the  plan  of  human  life 
marriage  serves  two  purposes:  primarily,  to 
perpetuate  the  race;  and,  secondarily,,  to  de- 
velop the  higher  traits  of  character  which  find 
their  true  opportunity  for  culture  only  in  the 
home.  It  is  to  make  life  humane,  no  less  than 
human.  It  will  cease  when,  in  the  plan  of  God, 
the  race  no  longer  requires  it;  and  when,  in 
the  new  conditions  of  the  heavenly  life,  it  gives 
place  to  other  higher  and  surer  forms  of  spirit- 
ual culture.   Then,  we  are  told,  "We  shall  see 


242    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

him  as  he  is,  and  be  like  him/'  Then  our  joy 
shall  be  full.  In  that  world  where  his  servants 
are  serving  him  there  will  be  nothing  that  cor- 
rupts, or  makes  a  lie,  or  that  renders  it  diffi- 
cult for  character  to  complete  itself  along  the 
line  of  a  normal  growth. 

Here,  then,  is  the  underlying  truth.  The  re- 
lationships, the  duties,  the  tasks,  the  privi- 
leges, the  opportunities  of  this  life,  all  have  a 
present  worth  that  will  end  with  the  present 
life.  It  is  distinctively  their  earthly  function. 
One  has  wife,  children,  home ;  one  has  wealth, 
business,  success;  one  has  talents  for  art  or 
music,  or  of  personal  beauty;  one  has  a  rich 
inheritance  of  race  or  ancestry,  or  the  gifts 
of  personal  charm;  one  has  life  given  to  him 
in  great  days  when  movement  is  rapid  and 
great  things  are  to  be  accomplished.  Each 
has  his  trust  in  his  gifts,  or  his  possessions, 
or  his  opportunities.  It  is  a  trust  for  to-day. 
Its  function  is  immediate.  It  soon  is  to  be 
recalled.  It  has  a  value,  therefore,  that,  wisely 
used,  is  not  easily  to  be  overrated.  But  each 
has  also  a  particular  function  that  does  not 
end.  The  effects  are  eternal.  They  are  taken 
up  and  perpetuated  in  character.  How  wide 
their  sweep  is  we  can  only  surmise;  for  life 
acts  upon  life,  and  the  influence  of  character 
is  not  easily  to  be  measured.    Nor  can  we  un- 


LIFERS  GREAT  TRUSTS  243 

derstand  the  role  that  time  plays  in  the  plan 
of  God.  Of  all  existing  things,  character  is 
that  which,  alone,  passes  on  undiminished  by 
time,  and  with  possibilities  of  influence  which 
extend  far  beyond  the  horizon  of  the  life  that 
we  know.  Because  it  is  what  it  is,  its  growth 
and  attainment  cannot  be  considered  as  com- 
pleted in  any  one  stage  of  its  existence.  The 
human  soul  is  of  the  nature  of  God.  It  is  to 
expand  and  to  acquire  so  long  as  it  exists. 
When  it  passes,  therefore,  from  this  life  into 
the  other,  it  is  sure  that  it  will  find  within  its 
reach  other  and  more  effective  service  than  it 
found  in  the  previous  state  of  its  existence. 
It  has  used  its  opportunities  here  for  better 
or  for  worse.  They  have  fallen  from  its  grasp 
only  to  give  place  to  others  that  belong  to  the 
new  life.  Therefore,  as  we  look  upon  our- 
selves here,  we  recognize  in  every  direction 
this  double  function,  that  applies  to  every 
earthly  possession  and  opportunity:  the  one 
transient  and  brief,  the  other  eternal  and 
spiritual ;  the  one  only  to  meet  the  necessities 
of  the  earthly  life,  the  other  to  take  advantage 
of  the  earthly  life  to  start  and  carry  forward 
the  work  which  is  to  be  the  business  of  the 
life  beyond.  On  an  old  sun  dial  in  an  English 
garden  is  inscribed  the  legend,  "The  hours  fly ; 
the  judgment  waits."    The  temporary  passes. 


244     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

There  is  in  every  instance  a  function  and  an 
effect  that  are  eternal.  The  shadows  lengthen. 
Age,  weariness,  death  are  near  at  hand;  but 
the  new  day  dawns  and  with  it  come  new 
powers  and  life  eternal.  Marriage,  like  all 
the  rest,  is  in  its  immediate  relations  given  to 
meet  the  necessities  of  the  world  in  which  we 
live.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  working  out 
results  which  belong  to  eternity,  and  which, 
when  the  immediate  function  of  marriage  is 
ended,  will  be  taken  up  and  carried  forward 
by  the  new  agencies  which  God  has  reserved 
for  the  life  that  lies  beyond. 

With  this  interpretation  of  our  Lord's  words 
w^e  see  the  immense  responsibility  that  at- 
taches to  the  possession  of  these  various 
earthly  trusts.  Has  a  man  wife,  home,  chil- 
dren? These  have  a  brief,  immediate  function. 
How  soon  the  home  breaks  up  I  The  children 
leave  the  nest.  But  yesterday  they  gathered 
about  the  familiar  table  to  be  fed  and  clothed 
and  cared  for,  and  to  bring  the  delight  and 
the  sweet  joys  which  are  the  return  for  the 
tender  but  insistent  cares  of  a  home.  How 
quickly  they  will  be  gone !  Therefore,  the  pres- 
ent must  be  made  much  of.  Shall  we  leave, 
until  the  children  arrive  at  years  of  discretion, 
the  teaching  of  the  important  things,  the  disci- 
pline of  character,  the  opening  of  the  mind 


LIFE'S  GREAT  TRUSTS  246 

to  God,  to  the  meaning  and  responsibility  of 
life?  Shall  we  be  afraid  to  talk  to  them  of 
serious  things,  or  take  them  into  our  confi- 
dence concerning  the  great  questions  which 
even  their  young  minds  are  sure  to  raise? 
Shall  we  trust  them  wholly  to  servants  and 
teachers,  however  skilled?  If  we  do,  the  op- 
portunity for  us  will  quickly  end.  The  im- 
mediate value  of  the  earthly  privilege  will  be 
taken  from  us,  while  the  effect  in  those  young 
hearts,  which  are  never  to  be  destroyed,  passes 
on  beyond  our  reach. 

Has  a  man  business,  or  money,  or  power? 
Very  well!  How  soon  he  will  be  separated 
from  it  all!  It  will  have  wrought  its  work 
and  played  its  part  in  the  life  that  now  is. 
Whether  he  use  it  well  or  not,  its  deep  effects 
will  endure.  Shall  he  be  half-hearted,  or  care- 
less, or  thriftless,  or  dishonest,  thinking  that 
it  does  not  matter?  To-morrow  life  will  be 
gone,  and  all  that  the  talents  meant  will  have 
slipped  from  his  hands.  Has  he  an  inheritance 
peculiar  and  rich  in  race  or  ancestry  or  citizen- 
ship ;  or  has  he  talents  that  separate  him  from 
others  and  give  him  opportunity  of  distinction, 
so  easily  won,  so  rich  in  reward,  when  others 
toil  for  them  in  vain  and  fall  disheartened  and 
failing  by  the  roadside?  If  he  is  selfish  and 
indifferent  to  others ;  if  he  thinks  only  of  him- 


246    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

self;  if  he  cares  little  for  the  passing  hour, 
except  for  what  it  may  mean  in  his  own  pleas- 
ure, or  aggrandizement,  let  him  take  heed :  for 
the  hours  fly  and  the  function  of  this  world 
passes  away  and  is  not  to  return.  All  these 
have  their  immediate  obvious  value.  They  bear 
directly  upon  some  pleasure  and  the  fullness 
of  the  life  which  we  are  now  living.  We  may 
feel  that  we  are  getting  out  of  them  all 
they  are  worth  to  us  as  the  days  go  by.  We 
may  even  school  ourselves  to  indifference  as 
to  the  future,  because  of  the  fullness  of  the 
life  w^e  are  living.  The  other  side  of  the  truth 
is  that  in  addition  to  their  place  in  the  plan  of 
the  present  life  these  all  are  relational  to  eter- 
nity. They  all  have  a  permanent  effect.  They 
are  producing  results  which  are  to  be  delivered 
into  the  hands  of  God  for  his  use  when  the  new 
day  comes.  They  are  intrusted  to  us  as  a  great 
trust  in  the  present  life,  in  order  that  they  may 
prepare  us,  and  those  whom  we  can  influence, 
for  something  more  and  better  in  the  life  be- 
yond, where  they  will  give  place  to  the  other 
agencies  and  influences  and  opportunities 
which  God  there  has  in  store  for  every  soul  that 
returns  as  the  child  from  school  to  his  father's 
house,  when  he  is  summoned  to  take  up  the 
privileged  life  which  is  to  be  lived  there  and  for 
which  he  was  born. 


LIFE'S  GREAT  TRUSTS  247 

On  the  other  hand,  is  any  one  without  the 
possession  of  these  special  privileges?  For 
him  is  the  assurance  that  these  are  peculiarly 
of  this  world,  and  are  transient ;  while  beyond 
are  others,  and  far  better,  awaiting  him.  To 
the  one  who  is  not  married  we  hear  Jesus  say : 
"In  the  providence  of  God  you  are  shut  out 
from  the  joys  and  the  privileges  of  all  that 
makes  for  personal  culture  and  growth  in  the 
home.  Be  not  downhearted.  In  the  resurrec- 
tion they  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in  mar- 
riage." In  that  day  it  will  be  found  that  other 
relations  and  other  opportunities  are  pro- 
vided which  will  fill  the  place  and  do  what  you 
need  for  the  development  of  heart  and  soul  for 
the  larger  life.  To  the  one  who  is  poor  Jesus 
says:  "You  are  condemned  in  the  providence 
of  God  to  toil  and  dream  and  hope  for  privi- 
leges which  life  has  not  brought.  Never  mind ! 
In  the  life  beyond,  these  relations  of  poverty 
or  wealth,  of  bondage  or  freedom,  of  hope- 
less repression  or  of  buoyant  and  expanding 
growth  with  the  privileges  of  leisure  and  of 
culture,  will  disappear  beyond  the  grave. 
Shrouds  have  no  pockets.  Naked  you  were 
born,  and  naked  you  return."  What  is  this  but 
to  emphasize  the  fact  that  Lazarus  in  the  bosom 
of  God  has  entered  into  joys  and  opportunities 
and  privileges  which  Dives  in  his  best  estate 


248     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

never  knew?  God's  treasure  house  is  un- 
limited. It  is  to  be  opened  as  never  before  in 
that  life  which  awaits  beyond. 

Let  us  hold,  then,  all  these  things  as  a  pass- 
ing possession.  We  will  not  allow  ourselves 
to  be  overburdened  by  them,  nor  distressed  if 
we  have  them  not.  How  quickly  like  riches 
thej^  take  to  themselves  wings  and  fly  away! 
On  the  monuments  in  the  ancient  churches 
in  England  one  sees  the  effigies  of  kings  with 
their  crowns,  and  knights  clad  cap-a-pie^  and 
ladies  decked  with  their  laces  and  their  brave 
broideries;  but  also  other  figures  emaciated 
to  the  bone,  to  record  the  wasting  disease  of 
which  they  died ;  and  here  and  there  only  a  grim 
skeleton  stretched  in  all  its  gaunt  hideousness 
above  the  marble  tomb.  Which  is  the  truer 
representation,  the  king  in  his  splendor,  or 
the  skeleton,  as  marking  all  that  remains?  We 
note  the  truth  suggested  by  them  all.  The 
possessions  perish,  the  man  survives.  We  look 
for  what  lies  beyond,  not  only  as  something 
to  be  won,  but  as  something  that  supersedes. 
In  that  world,  when,  with  the  marrying  and 
giving  in  marriage,  the  wealth  and  the  power 
and  the  business  of  this  life  shall  have  passed 
away,  will  be  found  riches  of  a  different  kind, 
bonds  of  a  more  enduring  nature,  opportuni- 
ties for  attainment  of  promise;  in  short,  a 


LIFE'S  GREAT  TRUSTS  249 

life  such  as  a  loving  God,  in  the  vastness  of 
his  plans  of  blessing  and  the  fullness  of  his 
wisdom  and  his  power,  shall  provide  for  the 
children  of  his  love.  Therefore,  our  Lord's 
word,  "If  any  man  would  come  after  me,  let 
him  deny  himself,"  and  also,  "Every  one  that 
hath  left  houses,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or 
father,  or  mother,  or  children,  or  lands,  for 
my  name's  sake,  shall  receive  a  hundredfold, 
and  shall  inherit  eternal  life." 

While,  then,  we  have  these  things  we  are 
to  use  them,  redeeming  the  time,  or,  in  our 
Lord's  graphic  phrase,  buying  them  up  as 
things  offered  at  a  bargain  in  the  market,  be- 
cause they  must  be  had  now  or  never.  The 
opportunity  is  immediate  and  quickly  gone, 
but  they  have  a  value  that  is  enduring.  Woe 
to  him  who  misuses  them,  or  who  in  his  care- 
less indifference  forgets  that  the  marrying  and 
the  giving  in  marriage,  the  opportunities  and 
the  demands  of  the  life  that  now  is,  while  they 
all  belong  to  to-day,  are,  because  they  have 
relations  which  are  eternal,  the  great  trusts 
of  life. 


XXII 

THE  SETTING  UP  OF  THE  ARK 

"And  David  went  and  brought  up  the  ark  of  God  from 
the  house  of  Obed-edom  into  the  city  of  David  with 
joy."— 2  Samuel  6.  12. 

The  ark  stood  in  Israel  for  all  that  helped 
men  to  realize  God.  Therefore  it  stood  for 
what  helps  men  to  attain  to  what  is  best,  and 
to  help  others  to  do  the  same.  Whatever  were 
the  immediate  circumstances  or  the  immediate 
motives  of  David's  act,  we  can  pass  them  over 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  ark  placed  in  his 
new  capital  had  this  value.  And  in  the  light 
of  David's  history  and  what  we  know  of  his 
own  relation  to  God  it  is  not  too  much  to 
assume  that  he  had  this  purpose  in  his  heart. 
The  ark  witnessed  to  God. 

In  any  case,  this  was  the  effect.  Jerusalem 
has  been  the  Holy  City  ever  since.  Consider 
what  Jerusalem  stands  for  to-day !  Think  how 
hearts  through  the  centuries  have  thrilled  at 
the  mere  thought  of  it !  Think  how  it  has  be- 
come the  name  for  the  consummation  of  every 
Christian  hope!  "The  New  Jerusalem,  the 
city  of  God!"    A  thousand  memories  cluster 

250 


THE  SETTING  UP  OF  THE  ARK         251 

about  the  actual  city.  It  may  have  been  plun- 
dered and  destroyed  and  rebuilt  and  plundered 
again;  it  may  to-day  be  squalid  and  its  in- 
habitants degraded ;  it  may  be  the  scene  of  the 
squabblings  of  the  wretched  representatives 
of  degenerate  Christian  faith;  it  may,  indeed, 
eventually  disappear  from  the  face  of  the 
earth;  still  its  name  attaches  to  the  "Celestial 
City,"  and  the  very  thought  of  it  calls  up  the 
beatific  vision  of  the  heavenly  abode  where 
saints  of  God  are  to  live  in  uninterrupted  com- 
munion with  their  Lord.  That  for  which  the 
ark  stood  at  the  beginning  is  there  achieved  in 
its  most  glorious  possibilities. 

We  may  use  the  text,  therefore,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  life  of  to-day,  and  ask  what  it 
means  to  us.  For  the  ark  stands  for  all  that 
is  given  to  help  men  to  God.  Its  counterpart 
in  our  life  is  the  Bible,  and  worship,  and  the 
church;  and  we  may  ask  at  once.  What  are 
these  in  fact  doing  for  us?  Have  we  made  a 
Jerusalem  with  our  ark,  and  are  we  in  our 
personal  and  united  history  advancing  in  the 
course  in  which  the  work  so  begun  will,  for 
us  at  least,  be  completed? 

As  we  raise  this  question  we  become  aware 
that  many  to-day  are  eager  only  to  put  the  ark 
of  God  where  the  Philistines  cannot  get  at  it. 
This,  perhaps,  was  the  prevalent  feeling  in 


252    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

Israel  when  David  brought  the  ark  back;  for 
we  read  that  all  Israel  thrilled  at  the  sight, 
but  no  one  wanted  the  ark  in  his  own  home. 
Many  are  very  solicitous  to-day  about  the 
Bible  and  public  worship  and  the  church. 
They  are  much  disturbed  over  biblical  criti- 
cism, fearing  that  the  Bible  is  to  lose  some- 
thing of  its  sanctity,  as  if  we  had  to  stay  the 
ark.  Some  would  make  worship  very  dignified 
and  remote,  associating  it  always  with  stately 
churches  and  beautiful  windows  and  exquisite 
music  and  soft  carpets  and  gentle  refinement. 
Many  would  keep  the  church  a  sanctuary  un- 
contaminated  by  the  concerns  of  daily  life, 
sacred  from  the  world,  and  all  this  while  not 
very  particular  to  make  much  use  of  the  Bible 
or  worship  or  the  church  themselves. 

Some  w^ould  set  the  ark  high  as  a  symbol. 
The  Bible  and  worship  and  revealed  religion 
are  to  them  chiefly  symbols  of  truth.  Their 
main  use  is  in  the  impression  which  they  may 
make.  Their  worth  is  to  be  stated  in  what  are 
called  "value  judgments."  The  Bible  is  true, 
it  is  said,  because  "it  finds  me."  It  has  no 
particular  historic  importance,  nor  does  it 
stand  for  any  truth  that  can  be  very  definitely 
stated.  The  day  of  dogma  has  passed  and  even 
definitions  are  of  little  value.  Each  man  must 
be  left  to  determine  what  answers  his  own 


THE  SETTING  UP  OF  THE  ARK         253 

need  or  may  perchance  correspond  to  some- 
thing in  his  heart.  It  is  desirable  to  drop  the 
idea  of  the  supernatural,  which  will  carry 
with  it  revelation  and  miracles.  The  Old 
Testament  is  made  up  of  fragments  of  ancient 
stories,  and  how  closely  similar  the  New  may 
be  is  of  comparative  unimportance.  We  still 
have  the  essentials  of  religion,  and  the  real 
value  of  prayer,  and  Christian  meditation,  and 
spiritual  thought  and  aspiration  undisturbed. 
The  ark  answers  very  well  for  a  symbol,  each 
man  finding  in  the  symbol  what  may  prove 
to  be  good  for  himself. 

Others  would  set  the  ark  entirely  aside  as 
marking  merely  the  beginnings  of  Christianity. 
The  Bible  and  public  worship  and  the  church, 
like  the  ark  of  the  Israelites,  are  long  since 
outgrown.  Questions  concerning  them  may 
be  of  interest  to  antiquarians,  and  doubtless 
will  be  the  subject  of  learned  disquisitions 
from  scholars  and  professors  in  theological 
seminaries,  but  the  wise  men  of  the  street,  who 
are  concerned  with  the  real  business  of  life, 
and  are  readers  of  books,  or  have  had  the  privi- 
leges of  education,  have  no  further  use  for 
them,  and  look  with  outspoken  scorn  or  gentle 
pity,  as  the  case  may  be,  upon  those  who  still 
are  under  the  bondage  of  tradition  and  feel  it 
a  duty  daily  to  read  the  Bible  and  go  to  church. 


254    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

Recognizing  this  situation,  we  turn  to  the  an- 
cient story  to  see  what  suggestion  it  may  have 
for  us. 

We  discover,  first  of  all,  that  David  set  up 
the  ark  to  help  himself  to  realize,  and  to  lead 
the  people  to  know,  that  they  were  dealing 
with  God. 

Those  were  prosperous  days  in  Israel.  The 
king  had  founded  a  new  capital;  riches  and 
luxury  and  success  were  beginning  to  affect 
the  life  of  the  people.  Times  were  coming  to 
be  in  Israel  what  they  are  to-day  in  every 
prosperous  community.  The  old  was  passing 
away  and  the  new  was  coming  upon  them  with 
all  the  charm  and  glamour  both  of  novelty  and 
of  abounding  prosperity.  Whether  they  real- 
ized it  or  not,  with  the  history  of  the  centuries 
behind  us,  and  even  with  what  we  know  of  our 
own  experience,  we  can  see  that  they  would 
surely  forget  God  unless  from  some  source 
they  should  receive  especial  help,  just  as  to- 
day when  engaged  in  large  business,  with  its 
multitude  of  cares  and  its  pressing  tempta- 
tions, with  increasing  wealth  and  the  com- 
panionship of  those  who  have  already  advanced 
far  in  the  same  line,  we  come  upon  men  about 
us  who  have  ceased  to  read  the  Bible.  They 
begin  to  neglect  worship,  both  public  and  pri- 
vate.   They  find  the  demands  of  religion  a  task 


THE  SETTING  UP  OF  THE  ARK         ^55 

and,  very  often,  a  burden.  They  cease  to  feel 
the  importance  of  the  church  to  themselves 
or  the  community ;  and  little  by  little  the  com- 
munity itself  under  this  influence  begins  to 
drift  aTMay  from  God.  The  young  man  coming 
up  to  the  great  city  to  find  a  career  has  a  Bible 
in  his  trunk,  and  has  no  other  thought  than 
to  maintain  the  religious  habits  of  his  home 
and  to  keep  himself  in  constant  touch  with  his 
mother.  But  he  is  in  a  new  atmosphere.  The 
nights  are  short.  The  mornings  are  hurried. 
The  Sabbath  finds  him  tired.  The  outside 
world  is  attractive.  What  is  easier  and,  in 
many  cases,  more  inevitable  than  that  his  good 
resolutions  will  be  forgotten  and  his  religious 
habits  will  speedily  vanish?  He  may  still  be 
strong  against  temptation  and  find  little 
charm  in  evil  companions,  but  the  reality  of 
religion  and  the  sense  of  companionship  with 
Christ  fade  from  his  heart. 

David  was  wise  enough  to  anticipate  this. 
He  knew  the  place  of  the  habit  of  worship  in 
his  life,  and  the  relation  of  what  we  may  call 
the  instruments  of  worship  to  those  habits. 
There  must  be  both  a  time  and  a  place  for 
prayer.  There  must  be  something  which  is  a 
visible  reminder  of  God  and  of  the  claims  of 
his  worship  and  his  service.  The  temple  was 
to  be  the  place  for  the  dwelling  of  the  Sheki- 


256     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

nah  of  Israel,  the  presence  of  God  which  every 
Israelite  felt  when  he  entered  the  house  of  God. 
The  ark  was  all  that  Israel  boasted  at  this  time 
in  preparation  for  the  temple.  David  needed 
it  himself,  and  he  needed  it  also  to  place  it 
where  it  would  be  before  the  eyes  of  the  people. 
If  he  would  nourish  faith  in  his  own  heart,  and 
if  he  would  lead  the  people  in  ways  of  right- 
eousness and  of  truth,  he  could  not  long 
dispense  with  its  presence. 

The  situation  is  not  changed  to-day.  The 
Christian  who  would  himself  hold  true  to  his 
faith,  who  would  be  strong  against  tempta- 
tion and  grow  in  character  and  in  the  things 
of  God,  needs  his  ark,  and  he  may  find  it  in 
his  Bible,  in  regular  habits  of  prayer,  and  in 
attendance  at  church.  If  he  would  do  any- 
thing to  help  others  into  the  Christian  life, 
or  to  make  his  influence  in  the  world  count 
for  Christ,  these  things  are  indispensable. 
Without  them  his  religion,  at  best,  will  be  only 
an  inner  experience,  and  may  quickly  fade 
away  into  little  more  than  a  sentiment  or  a 
memory. 

Men  have  always  needed  such  aids,  and  cer- 
tainly the  world  has  not  outgrown  them.  In 
spite  of  her  temple  and  her  ark  and  all  her 
incentive  to  maintain  the  worship  of  Jehovah, 
Israel  fell  away  into  idolatry.    Without  such 


THE  SETTING  UP  OF  THE  ARK         257 

aid  we  certainly  cannot  hope  to  do  better.  In 
our  richer  experience  and  riper  knowledge  we 
may  be  tempted  to  think  that  habits  and  forms 
and  ceremonies  tend  only  to  formalism.  We 
have  but  to  consider  what  the  great  cathedrals 
have  stood  for  through  the  centuries.  They 
arose  by  virtue  of  the  devotion  of  a  multitude 
of  unknown  worshipers,  toiling  through  many 
years,  and  they  have  stood  an  impressive  wit- 
ness to  the  Christian  faith  and  a  silent  but 
powerful  appeal  to  the  community  about  them, 
compelling  the  recognition  of  God  and  sus- 
taining the  sense  of  the  Divine  Presence.  To- 
day their  majesty  and  their  silent  beauty  go 
far  to  make  serious  the  mood  and  to  humble 
the  spirit  of  even  the  thoughtless  man  who 
stands  within  their  walls. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  David's  purpose 
was  also  to  connect  religion  with  God's  provi- 
dential care,  and,  what  is  more  important  still, 
with  his  covenant.  The  ark  was  the  ark  of  the 
covenant.  It  marked  the  peculiar  relationship 
existing  between  God  and  the  chosen  people. 
It  carried  with  it  the  witness  of  all  that  God 
had  done  in  caring  for  his  people,  leading  them 
out  of  Egypt,  feeding  them  in  the  wilderness, 
overthrowing  their  enemies,  planting  them  at 
last  in  the  land  of  promise,  teaching  them 
through  all  to  rest  in  that  divine  care,  and  to 


g58    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

know  and  to  love  the  God  who  so  provided  for 
them.  When  no  one  in  Israel  was  ready  to 
receive  the  ark  into  his  home,  God  had  blessed 
Obed-edom,  the  Gittite,  and  all  his  house,  be- 
cause of  the  ark  of  God  which  he  had  cared  for. 
This  is  the  record  of  Christian  homes  every- 
where. Their  testimony  is  abundant,  both  to 
God's  providential  care  and  to  the  constancy 
and  extent  of  his  peculiar  blessings.  What 
would  the  possession  of  the  land  be  without 
them?  What  would  we  be  but  for  what  they 
have  been  to  us  in  the  past?  The  question  be- 
fore us  is,  Shall  they  be  preserved,  or  shall 
they  go  down  before  the  wave  of  worldliness 
which  is  sweeping  over  the  land? 

The  ark  of  God,  as  we  know  it,  has  been 
abundantly  tested.  It  is  not  a  mystical  pos- 
session, an  occult  experience,  known  only  to 
the  few.  The  Bible,  for  example,  is  within 
every  man's  reach.  The  right  for  any  man  to 
investigate  it  is  thoroughly  established.  It 
is  an  open  door  through  which  any  man  may 
pass  to  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  his  own 
heart.  The  criticism  to  which  it  has  been  ex- 
posed has  swept  away  the  difficulties  that  gath- 
ered about  the  doctrine  of  its  verbal  inspira- 
tion, while  its  use,  and  the  history  of  the  Chris- 
tion  centuries,  have  settled  the  question  of 
the  substantial  truth  of  its  representation  of 


THE  SETTING  UP  OF  THE  ARK         259 

God  and  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  have  in  it  a 
credible  history  of  Jesus  and  his  apostles,  with 
the  account  of  what  God  has  done  to  deliver 
sinful  men  from  the  guilt  and  the  bondage  of 
their  own  transgression,  and  to  open  to  them 
a  way  of  life  for  this  world  and  for  the  world 
beyond.  The  Bible  is  no  longer  a  veiled  au- 
thority. It  is  a  source  of  intelligent  knowl- 
edge to  be  studied  and  pondered  and  ques- 
tioned incessantly;  and,  thus  approached  and 
used,  it  reveals  the  deep  things  of  God  in  a 
larger  sense  than  ever  the  ark  of  Israel  did. 
It  is  the  authoritative  witness  to  God,  and  the 
great  agency  by  which  men  can  be  helped  to 
know  God. 

So  of  the  church  and  worship.  No  man  need 
be  in  ignorance  as  to  what  takes  place  where 
they  are  neglected.  They  are  the  God-given 
help  to  men  to  attain  to  all  that  is  best  of 
strength  and  peace  and  that  knowledge  which 
leads  into  life.  The  day  has  gone  by  when  men 
can  successfully  attempt  to  separate  religion 
from  life.  Religion  is  not  simply  a  matter  of 
the  Sabbath  and  the  church;  but  the  Sabbath 
and  the  church  are  necessary  to  save  the  re- 
ligion of  the  week.  If  they  are  neglected,  or 
lightly  considered,  religion,  in  every  form,  in 
the  heart  of  the  individual  and  in  the  life  of 
the  street  and  of  the  store,  perishes. 


260    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

"A  Sabbath  well  spent 
Brings  a  week  of  content, 

And  health  for  the  toils  of  to-morrow; 
But  a  Sabbath  profaned, 
Whatso'er  may  be  gained, 

Is  a  certain  forerunner  of  sorrow." 

The  joy  which  pervaded  Israel  when  the  ark 
was  brought  to  Jerusalem  is  but  a  faint  ex- 
pression of  what  should  be  the  joy  in  every 
Christian  community  where  the  Bible  and  the 
church  and  worship  are  set  in  their  proper 
place  in  the  life  of  individuals  and  in  the  his- 
tory of  all. 


XXIII 

CHRIST'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  CHURCH 

"Christ  also  loved  the  church,  and  gave  himself  up 
for  it;  that  he  might  sanctify  it,  having  cleansed  it  by 
the  washing  of  water  with  the  word,  that  he  might 
present  the  church  to  himself  a  glorious  church,  not 
having  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing;  but  that  it 
should  be  holy  and  without  blemish." — Ephesians  5. 
25-27. 

The  apostle's  vision  is  not  of  a  heavenly 
glory,  but  of  an  earthly  reality.  The  business 
of  his  Church  is  to  bring  in  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  the  earth.  He  has  redeemed  and  glori- 
fied and  is  sanctifying  it  to  be  his  immediate 
witness  and  abiding  possession.  What  its 
place  is  to  be  in  the  heavenly  kingdom,  we  do 
not  know.  That  it  will  have  a  place,  and  that 
all  that  is  in  it  of  love  and  brotherhood  and 
joy  and  comfort  and  strength,  all  that  makes 
up  its  true  life,  as  in  the  case  of  the  individual, 
will  be  preserved  and  will  find  its  final  oppor- 
tunity and  realization  in  the  presence  of  God 
and  the  New  Jerusalem,  we  cannot  doubt. 
But  the  details  of  that  life,  despite  the  splen- 
did vision  of  the  Apocalypse,  have  not  been 
revealed,  and  were  evidently  not  the  immediate 

261 


262    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

concern  of  our  Lord  or  the  supreme  purpose 
of  the  vision  given  to  Saint  Paul  in  the  text. 

The  Church  in  the  New  Testament  is  the 
whole  body  of  believers.  The  contrast  that 
from  time  to  time  appears,  and  which  we  often 
make  to-day,  is  not  between  the  visible  and  the 
invisible  Church.  It  is  between  the  Church 
as  it  is  and  the  Church  as  it  is  to  be;  between 
the  Church  of  to-day  and  the  Church  made 
perfect,  the  Church  which  Christ  will  present 
to  himself  "without  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any 
such  thing"  when  his  Spirit  is  in  full  posses- 
sion and  his  work  approaches  its  triumph. 

The  vision  given  to  the  apostle  as  described 
in  the  text  is  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  Lord,  dying 
for  his  Church,  as  in  the  opening  verse  of  the 
chapter  we  have  the  picture  of  Christ  doing 
the  same  for  the  individual  believer:  "Be  ye 
therefore  imitators  of  God,  as  beloved  chil- 
dren; and  walk  in  love,  even  as  Christ  also 
loved  you,  and  gave  himself  up  for  us,  an  offer- 
ing and  a  sacrifice  to  God."  He  had  before  his 
mind  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation;  Christ 
Jesus  "existing  in  the  form  of  God,"  "count- 
ing not  the  being  on  an  equality  with  God  a 
thing  to  be  grasped,"  but  "emptying  himself," 
"taking  the  form  of  a  servant,"  "being  made  in 
the  likeness  of  men" ;  and  the  beauty  of  his 
life,  the  perfect  pattern  for  human  life  for  all 


CHRIST'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  CHURCH      263 

time;  the  awe  of  his  sinless  character  which 
bowed  even  the  soldiers  sent  to  arrest  him; 
the  power  of  his  redeeming  love  which  awoke 
a  new  life  in  every  penitent  heart  that  came 
within  his  touch;  and,  above  all,  the  wonder 
of  his  sacrificial  death,  in  which  *^he  became 
obedient  even  unto  the  death  of  the  cross."  All 
this,  of  which  Paul  was  not  an  actual  witness 
when  it  transpired,  but  which  had  gradually 
been  made  clear  to  his  eyes  opened  by  the 
revelation  of  the  risen  Lord  given  to  him  at 
the  beginning  of  his  new  life,  he  now  saw  as 
the  revelation  of  the  love  of  the  Lord  for  his 
Church.  Years  had  passed;  the  days  of  his 
captivity  had  come;  his  own  death,  of  which 
every^^here  of  late  he  had  been  warned,  was 
not  distant.  And  now  the  simple  phrase  of 
the  text,  "Christ  also  loved  the  church  and 
gave  himself  up  for  it,"  becomes  the  supreme, 
all-embracing  truth  of  his  life. 

We  have  this  truth,  then,  to  unfold. 

Obviously  that  supreme  love  will  purify  the 
Church.  Love  tolerates  no  half-hearted  serv- 
ice. Love  endures  no  intruder.  It  must  have 
all  or  nothing.  Here  is  the  interpretation  of 
that  tremendous  saying  of  the  Avriter  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  "Our  God  is  a  con- 
suming fire!"  Of  course;  for  "God  is  love," 
and  love,  especially  a  divine  love,  must  sweep 


264    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

the  field.  The  whole  being  of  God  is  expressed 
in  that  supreme  affection.  God  must  change, 
or  eliminate  from  his  universe,  all  that  is  un- 
sound and  ungenuine.  Only  "the  pure  in  heart 
shall  see  God.^'  Manifestly;  because  the  love 
of  God  draws  to  itself  all  that  responds  to  that 
love,  and  that  which  does  not  respond  cannot 
see  his  face.  This  is  the  tremendous  truth 
of  that  revelation  of  God  which  Jesus  Christ 
brought  into  the  world.  This  is  the  meaning 
of  the  great  pronouncement,  "God  so  loved  the 
world.''  The  Son  of  God,  who  came  to  make 
manifest  that  love,  became  of  necessity  the 
divider  between  those  who  consent  to  its  em- 
brace and  those  who  resist.  Love  must  have 
its  way ;  and  the  glory  of  the  divine  love  is  that 
it  can  and  will  refine  and  purify,  even  though 
as  by  fire,  or,  failing  of  this,  will  eliminate 
from  the  sphere  of  the  divine  action.  This  is 
that  power  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which  is 
so  much  dwelt  upon  throughout  the  New 
Testament.  The  Paraclete,  the  Spirit  of 
Truth,  whom  Jesus  promised  to  send,  was  to 
sanctify  and  renew,  to  enlighten  and  guide,  to 
recreate  and  to  sustain,  until  the  work  of  God 
in  men  shall  be  accomplished. 

The  hope  of  the  Church  lies  in  this.  The 
world  is  continually  pointing  to  the  shortcom- 
ings of  the  Church  and  the  imperfections,  and 


CHRIST'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  CHURCH      265 

even  the  wickedness,  of  many  who  are  within 
the  Church,  and  the  Church  itself  is  bewil- 
dered over  the  lifelessness,  even  the  degener- 
acy, of  the  great  historic  Churches,  the  Roman, 
the  Greek,  the  Armenian,  in  which,  as  cor- 
ruption coming  from  the  world  in  which  we 
all  alike  must  live,  we  ourselves,  and  the  Chris- 
tian body  to  which  perchance  we  belong,  are 
in  danger  of  being  involved.  We  ask,  How 
is  the  Church  to  be  saved?  How  is  its  work  in 
the  kingdom  of  God  ever  to  be  performed?  and 
the  answer  comes.  By  the  renewing  power  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  the  "times  of  refreshing  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord,"  the  "wind  from  the 
Holy  Spirit."  This  is  what  the  Church  has 
experienced  again  and  again  in  its  past  his- 
tory. This  is  the  object  of  its  incessant  prayer. 
This  is  the  one  hope  that  we  must  all  cherish 
for  returning  life  in  moribund  members  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  as  of  the  quickening  of  that 
vitality  in  the  whole  Church  which  alone  con- 
stitutes it  the  body  of  Christ.  With  him  we 
will  mourn  over  the  Church  in  its  weakness 
and  its  imperfections.  We  may  sorrow  for 
others  and  scrupulously  examine  ourselves; 
but  the  life  of  the  Church  is  not  to  be  secured 
in  the  cutting  off  of  the  unworthy,  or  its  rigor 
with  the  weak,  or  the  strenuousness  of  its  self- 
discipline.    All  this  at  times  may  be  the  par- 


^ee    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

ticular  object  of  its  immediate  care  and  even 
the  measure  of  its  faithfulness,  but  its  hope  is 
only  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  abiding  in 
the  Church  and  renewing  the  life  of  its  mem- 
bers. Because  the  Lord  so  loved  his  Church  he 
will  not  forsake  it,  and  he  will  not  suffer  it  to 
go  on  unawakened  or  unclean. 

If  Christ  so  loves  the  Church,  then  we  ought 
to  love  it.  This  was  the  bond  that  united  the 
early  Christians.  They  went  forth  to  life  and 
to  death  together.  They  faced  the  arena  and 
the  beasts.  They  pressed  to  martyrdom,  as 
they  braved  exile  and  persecution,  not  as  fel- 
low Jews,  or  Gentiles,  or  as  fishermen,  or  mem- 
bers of  any  common  trade,  or  having  bonds 
of  any  ordinary  human  relationship.  Jesus 
Christ  was  the  one  bond  among  them;  and 
it  was  a  bond  made  visible  in  the  fellowship 
of  the  Church  that  bore  his  name.  The  su- 
preme strength  of  that  bond  lay  in  the  great 
truths  it  represented,  the  truth  of  God,  of  the 
soul,  of  heaven,  of  redemption,  of  immortality, 
all  made  real  through  the  Church.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  they  were  a  band  quickly  to  prove 
itself  more  invincible  than  the  famous  phalanx 
of  Alexander?  The  testimony  of  the  historian 
stands :  "The  Christians  pressed  to  martyrdom, 
and  the  world  thronged  to  baptism.'^  This 
was  the  force  which  gave  five  hundred  thou- 


CHRIST'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  CHURCH      267 

sand  members  to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  the 
first  century.  The  organization  and  the  love 
which  did  the  Lord's  Avork  so  effectively  at  the 
beginning  are  his  appointed  means  for  doing 
his  work  in  the  world  to-day.  It  has  brought 
the  gospel  to  us.  It  has  gathered  us  as  the 
shepherd  the  lost  sheep.  It  has  brought  hope 
and  joy  into  our  lives.  It  has  created  the 
civilization  of  the  Christian  centuries.  Ought 
we  not,  then,  to  cherish  our  membership  in  the 
Church,  to  love  the  Church,  which  in  this  true 
sense  is  the  mother  of  us  all,  and  to  believe! 
in  it  as  appointed  of  God  to  bring  in  God's 
kingdom  in  the  hearts  of  men  and  in  the  world? 
Furthermore,  we  should  expect  great  things 
of  the  Church.  We  should  expect  this  in  what 
it  can  do  for  us.  The  world  is  fully  awake  to 
the  value  of  organization,  but  the  limitation 
to  that  value,  of  which  on  all  sides  we  are  com- 
ing to  be  aware,  is  the  tendency  of  organiza- 
tions to  crush  the  individual.  By  as  much  as 
the  organization  becomes  complete  and  effi- 
cient, or  passes  into  the  control  of  one  or  a 
few  powerful  hands,  it  destroys  the  liberty  of 
the  individual.  Witness  the  heavy -handed- 
ness of  many  of  the  captains  of  industry  and 
the  masters  of  the  great  trusts,  and  the  cruelty 
of  many  a  trade  union  in  dealing  with  the  indi- 
vidual workingman. 


268    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

Exactly  the  opposite  is  the  characteristic 
of  the  Christian  Church.  In  proportion  as  it 
develops  in  doing  the  work  of  the  Lord,  or 
enters  into  fullness  of  understanding  of  his 
Spirit  and  his  purposes,  it  exalts  each  believer, 
no  matter  how  humble  or  weak,  to  a  proper 
recognition  of  his  place  in  the  plan  of  God. 
The  fixed  rule  of  its  life  is,  if  one  member  suf- 
fers all  suffer.  The  head  cannot  say  to  the 
foot,  "I  have  no  need  of  thee" ;  and  only  as  all 
contribute  their  several  parts  does  the  whole 
body  grow  into  the  image  of  its  Lord.  By  the 
very  terms  of  our  membership,  we  are  sum- 
moned to  have  our  Church  lift  us  to  our  best, 
to  hold  that  ever  before  us  as  our  goal,  and  to 
maintain  every  incentive  that  will  help  us  to 
reach  it. 

We  are  constantly  falling  below  our  best. 
In  business  and  in  social  life  we  have  to  de- 
pend upon  laws  and  social  conventions  to  keep 
us  within  the  range  of  reasonable  conduct, 
not  to  say  within  the  only  conditions  of  com- 
mendable success.  In  all  our  personal  habits, 
and  still  more  in  the  acquisition  of  character, 
we  can  be  sure  of  advancing  in  right  lines,  and 
making  attainments  that  are  genuine  and  de- 
sirable, only  as  we  value  and  secure  keenness 
of  religious  comprehension  and  tenderness  of 
Christian  love.     If  we  allow  these  things  to 


CHRIST'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  CHURCH      269 

disappear,  or  to  grow  cold  in  our  hearts,  if 
religion  becomes  to  us  merely  a  tradition  or 
a  name,  we  are  sure  to  fall  off  from  what  is 
sweetest  and  best  both  in  our  inner  life  and  in 
our  outward  deportment;  we  are  sure  to  be- 
come men  and  women  of  a  different  temper 
and  spirit  from  what  we  would  wish  to  be. 
Now,  the  Church  stands  for  all  that  will  help 
us  to  attain  the  best.  Its  recurring  hours  of 
worship,  its  invitations  to  prayer,  to  self- 
examination,  to  testing  oneself  by  the  Word  of 
God,  as  faithfully  delivered  and  pressed  upon 
us,  its  rebuking,  exhorting,  instructing,  and 
comforting  us,  are  all  to  this  end,  to  help  us  to 
be  men  after  God's  own  heart,  who  can  know 
him  and  serve  him  and  glorify  and  enjoy  him, 
both  here  and  hereafter.  We  should  recognize 
this  as  the  indispensable  function  of  the  Church 
in  our  personal  life,  as  in  the  constitution  of 
human  society,  and  make  sure  that  we  do  not 
fail  of  getting  the  benefit  of  it. 

Finally,  the  Church  is  to  save  men.  As  such 
it  is  God's  gift.  This  is  a  day  of  fierce  strug- 
gle with  the  world.  The  Church  is  hard 
pressed  without,  and  is  in  still  greater  danger 
from  seductive  and  corrupting  influences  work- 
ing within.  It  is  tempted  to  ignore,  or  even 
to  deny,  the  peril  and  the  need  of  struggle. 
Everyw^here  we  hear  the  world  cry,  "Peace! 


270    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

Peace!''  Perhaps  the  real  reason  for  the  pro- 
test is  that  the  Church  does  not  feel  competent 
for  the  fight.  It  is  too  conscious  of  its  own 
weakness,  and  finds  little  to  say  in  reply  to 
those  who  sneer  at  its  professions  and  make 
light  of  its  teachings.  When  we  remember 
how  the  Lord  loves  his  Church,  then  we  can 
believe  that  he  will  purify  and  strengthen  it. 
Its  abiding  power  is  in  its  witness  to  him.  He 
is  competent,  whether  at  any  given  time  the 
Church  is  or  is  not.  The  sole  duty  of  the 
Church  is  to  turn  to  him,  to  strive  to  be  more 
like  him,  to  open  its  heart  to  his  presence,  to 
seek  to  be  filled  with  his  Spirit ;  and  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  is  the  one  irresistible  force  in  the 
world.  The  hardest  hearts  have  broken  before 
it.  The  bitterest  enemies  have  been  changed 
into  friends,  and  the  world  has  even  now  begun 
to  see  the  method  and  the  certainty  of  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  old  prophecy  that  "a  nation 
shall  be  born  in  a  day."  The  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  survived  the  great  struggles  of  the  past 
when  Rome  went  down  before  the  barbarians 
and  civilization  was  swallowed  up  in  the  abyss 
of  universal  corruption.  It  will  survive  in 
the  great  struggle  when,  as  to-day,  society  is 
threatened  by  greed,  and  luxury,  and  unbelief, 
and  the  strife  of  class  with  class.  It  will  re- 
construct society  on  the  basis  of  a  brotherhood 


CHRIST'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  CHURCH      271 

gathered  about  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Son  of  Man.  It  will  become  the 
Church  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  be- 
cause it  is,  and  always  will  be,  the  Church  of 
the  redeemed. 


XXIV 

THE    SUPREME    POSSESSION 

"In  Christ." — Ephesians  1.  10. 

There  is  a  mystical  element  in  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ  which  is  difficult  to  describe. 
It  is  an  experience  rather  than  a  doctrine.  The 
Lord's  Supper  has  always  been  the  symbol  of 
it,  and  a  chief  instrument  for  its  expression. 
The  attempt  to  define  it  in  connection  with 
the  Supper  has  been  the  cause  of  the  deepest 
and  bitterest  divisions  in  the  Christian 
Church.  But,  however  it  has  failed  in  describ- 
ing it,  the  Church  has  always  held  to  the  fact. 
The  union  of  the  believer  with  Christ  is  to  be 
realized  in  the  rite,  and  as  so  realized  it  is 
the  earnest  of  an  abiding  experience  which  is 
to  be  the  progressive  attainment  of  the  true  be- 
liever. That  union  is  the  important  thing, 
however  it  may  be  set  forth.  It  is  what  Jesus 
promised  and  foretold  in  his  last  prayer  in 
the  seventeenth  chapter  of  John:  "I  in  them, 
and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  perfected 
into  one."  It  is  what  Paul  expressed  and 
refers  to  constantly  in  his  letters.  The  letter 
to  the  Ephesians  is  full  of  it.    Indeed,  as  Stier 

272 


THE  SUPREME  POSSESSION  273 

says,  "the  mystical  relation  with  Christ  is  the 
very  soul  of  the  epistle."  Among  the  epistles 
many  are  the  references  to  it,  such  as  these: 
"Spiritual  blessings  in  Christ";  "All  things 
summed  up  in  Christ" ;  "We  are  a  heritage  in 
him";  "One  body  in  Christ";  "Made  alive  in 
Christ";  "Established  in  Christ";  "New  crea- 
tures in  Christ";  "We  triumph  in  Christ"; 
the  blessed  dead  are  "in  Christ."^  In  com- 
menting on  Ephesians  1.  6  a  German  writer 
says:  "We  have  not  redemption  in  his  work 
without  his  Person,  but  in  his  Person,  with 
which  his  work  forms  a  living  unity." 

This  phrase,  "In  Christ,"  carries  us,  then, 
to  the  very  center  of  religion,  not  as  a  theory, 
but  as  a  practical  experience.  Though  we  can- 
not adequately  define  it,  and  only  with  diffi- 
culty can  talk  successfully  about  it,  we  can 
at  least  see  how  large  a  truth  it  is. 

The  phrase  suggests  being  in  Christ  as  in 
an  atmosphere.  Atmosphere  determines  the 
conditions  of  life.  To  a  fish  it  is  water,  in 
which  it  is  at  home,  and,  if  undisturbed,  at- 
tains all  the  possibilities  of  its  being.  To  the 
tree  it  is  the  air  charged  with  carbonic 
acid,  which  the  tree  absorbs  and  from  which 
it  gains  its  nourishment  and  makes  its  growth. 


^Eph.  1.  3 ;  1.  10 ;  1.  11 ;  Rom.  12.  5 ;  1  Cor.  4.  22 ;  2  Cor. 
1.  21 :  5.  17 ;  2.  14 ;  1  Thess.  4.  16. 


274    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

For  man  it  is  the  oxygenated  air.  Having  that 
in  undiminished  quantity,  he  has  vigor,  mental 
rightness,  and  buoyancy,  as  weU  as  life.  De- 
prived of  it,  or  even  with  a  diminished  supply, 
he  quickly  perishes. 

We  see  at  once  the  closeness  of  the  analogy 
as  we  turn  to  the  Scripture  phrases,  "Made 
alive  in  Christ,"  "In  him  we  live,  and  move, 
and  have  our  being."  We  realize  this  as  an 
atmosphere  of  love.  God  as  revealed  to  us  in 
Jesus  Christ  is  with  us  and  about  us,  caring 
for  us,  ordering  our  life.  "Underneath  are 
the  everlasting  arms."  He  invites  our  appeal 
to  him  in  prayer,  and  as  we  seek  him  prayer 
becomes  not  an  appeal  to  meet  present  need, 
but  a  communion,  an  expression  of  an  inti- 
macy that  is  constant,  and  a  dependence  which 
is  far  more  than  a  realized  help  in  time  of  need. 
It  is  a  companionship  established  in  a  love 
without  which  life  would  seem  hardly  possible. 

In  the  quotations  from  his  journal  which 
are  found  at  the  close  of  the  biography  of 
Henry  M.  Stanley,  the  African  explorer,  we 
find  this  testimony,  not  as  something  written 
for  others,  but  as  the  most  memorable  experi- 
ence amid  the  perils  and  terrible  trials  of  his 
struggles  in  Central  Africa.  He  writes: 
"Those  in  whom  faith  in  God  is  strong  feel  the 
same  sense  of  security  in  the  deepest  wilds. 


THE  SUPREME  POSSESSION  275 

An  invisible  Good  Influence  surrounds  them, 
to  whom  they  may  appeal  in  distress,  an  In- 
fluence which  inspires  noble  thoughts,  comfort 
in  grief,  resolution  when  weakened  by  misfor- 
tune. I  imperfectly  understand  this  myself, 
but  I  know  when  I  have  called  I  have  been  an- 
swered, strengthened,  and  assisted.  It  was  of 
benefit  to  myself  and  to  others.''  This  experi- 
ence might  be  confirmed  in  fuller  expression 
from  the  testimony  of  many  a  saintly  writer ; 
but  this  from  one  not  conscious  of  saintliness, 
or  of  having  a  message  for  others,  has  its  pe- 
culiar value.  It  is  the  unconscious  testimony 
of  a  strong  man,  living  the  most  strenuous  life, 
to  the  reality  of  the  love  of  Christ  as  an  abid- 
ing presence,  as  an  atmosphere  in  which  alone 
he  found  he  could  face  the  daily  task  and  meet 
the  constantly  recurring  peril. 

"In  Christ"  means  also  living  as  in  a  larger 
world.  Paul  says  in  the  text  that  God  "sums 
up  all  things  in  Christ,  the  things  in  heaven 
and  the  things  upon  earth."  The  life  we  are 
compelled  to  live  here  is  by  itself  a  petty  thing. 
Diverse  as  are  our  individual  experiences,  they 
are  all  substantially  one  in  their  common  fea- 
tures. We  are  absorbed  in  the  details  of  liv- 
ing. We  must  have  food  and  clothing;  we 
must  care  for  those  who  are  dependent 
upon  us;  we  must  do  the  work  to  which  our 


276    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

hands  are  set;  we  must  succeed  according  to 
the  measure  of  our  circumstances  if  it  is  pos- 
sible for  us  to  do  so.  We  are  driven  by  am- 
bitions and  desires  and  passions  which  largely 
center  in  ourselves  and  spring  from  ourselves. 
We  are  aware  of  the  pettiness  and  often  the 
mean  and  sordid  character  of  much  that  we 
have  to  do  and  even  of  much  that  we  most  de- 
sire. We  know  that  these  things  perish  in  the 
using.  We  are  aware  that  we  ourselves  are 
the  creatures  of  a  day.  We  can  but  most  in- 
adequately protect,  and  have  little  assurance 
that  we  can  prolong,  the  life  that  we  are  living. 
Time  will  surely  conquer  us,  and  we  shall  go 
out  of  life  as  naked  as  we  entered  it.  We  know 
and  care  nothing  for  what  is  above  or  beyond 
it,  and  we  make  little  or  no  attempt  to  inter- 
pret it  even  as  we  leave  it.  And  it  has  always 
been  the  same.  Nearly  three  thousand  years 
ago  we  have  a  picture  of  it  in  Homer  which 
corresponds  accurately  to  the  picture  of  it 
given  to  us  each  day  in  the  daily  newspaper. 
This  is  the  way  in  which  a  student  of  Homer 
describes  it:  "He  sees  life  as  it  is.  He  does 
not  question  it;  there  it  is,  final,  glorious, 
lovely,  august,  terrible,  sordid,  cruel,  unjust. 
And  the  partially  smiling,  unmoved,  unac- 
countable Olympians  are  the  symbols  of  its 
brute  actuality.     Not  even  is  there  no  expla- 


THE  SUPREME  POSSESSION  277 

nation,  there  is  not  even  a  question  to  be  asked. 
So  it  has  been ;  so  it  is ;  so  it  will  be."^  Your 
practical  man  is  Homeric.  He  is  content  to 
take  life  as  it  is,  and  make  out  of  it  all  he  can 
for  himself  for  the  passing  hour,  and  to-mor- 
row is  as  to-day. 

But  this  does  not  satisfy  anyone.  God  has 
made  us  for  himself.  The  soul  reaches  out  for 
the  light  that  is  above  and  beyond,  and  per- 
petually feels  for  it  in  the  hope  that  it  may  find 
Him  who  is  the  Maker  of  all.  Saint  Paul  does 
more  than  this.  He  knows  what  is  beyond. 
He  sees  it  and  has  realized  it.  It  has  become 
to  him  the  true  life,  the  larger  world.  There 
is  for  him  a  universe  in  which  the  divine  pur- 
pose of  redemption  is  accomplished;  a  universe 
in  which  man  becomes  a  new  creature  and 
finds  his  true  life,  the  realm  for  which  man  as 
a  child  of  God  was  created.  We  belong  to  it. 
Christ  is  the  center  of  it.  God  gathers  there  all 
things  in  him.  He  was  not  present  when  Jesus 
uttered  his  final  prayer,  but  he  knows  it  is 
true :  "I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may 
be  perfected  into  one."  He  knows  where  that 
perfection  is  to  be  attained,  because  he  is  al- 
ready having  experience  of  its  beginnings.  As 
the  saintly  Archbishop  Leighton  beautifully 
said,  "It  is  but  little  we  can  receive  here,  some 

*Lowe  Dickinson. 


278     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

drops  of  joy  that  enter  into  us;  but  there  we 
shall  enter  into  joy,  as  vessels  put  into  a  sea 
of  happiness." 

The  Christian  believes  this.  He  has  learned 
it  not  only  from  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  of 
Paul,  but  he  has  been  led  into  the  blessed  ex- 
perience as  his  own.  He  now  accepts  life  as 
God  has  appointed  it  to  him,  but  he  interro- 
gates it  at  every  point.  He  asks,  "Whence? 
Why?  Whither?'^  because  he  knows  that  be- 
hind and  beyond  is  reality.  Here  we  never 
can  attain.  Beyond  is  the  goal  of  all  and  the 
interpretation  of  existence;  beyond  is  the 
larger  world  of  which  this  world  is  the  smallest 
and  least  significant  part.  It  is  but  the  portal 
to  the  temple ;  but  the  preparation  for  the  life ; 
but  the  preparatory  school  for  the  larger 
knowledge  and  service.  Money  and  pleasure 
and  power  belong  to  the  things  of  sense  and 
perish  with  the  senses.  Character  and  the 
soul  and  love  and  truth  and  God  are  beyond. 
All  these  are  to  be  found  in  Christ,  and  no- 
where else.  The  phrase,  "In  Christ,"  is  the 
expression  of  that  larger  world,  that  truer  life. 

"In  Christ"  also  lies  the  divine  help  which 
alone  bridges  the  gulf  between  this  life  and 
the  other.  We  are  "made  alive  in  Christ." 
"He  chose  us  in  him."  In  him  we  have  "our 
redemption,  through  his  blood,  the  forgiveness 


THE  SUPREME  POSSESSION  279 

of  our  trespasses,  according  to  the  riches  of 
his  grace."  Apart  from  Christ  we  should  not 
know  life,  and  we  should  not  know  God.  For 
apart  from  Christ  what  have  we?  We  have 
nature ;  and  some  would  have  us  live  according 
to  nature,  as  if  reading  its  laws  and  being 
obedient  to  its  teachings  we  should  attain  the 
real  purpose  of  being.  But  what  is  nature? 
It  is  like  Niagara.  "It  is  force  without  direc- 
tion, noise  without  significance,  speed  with- 
out accomplishment.  All  day  and  all  night 
the  water  rushes  and  roars.  It  does  nothing, 
it  has  no  significance.  There  is  no  progress. 
It  is  always  the  same  river.  New  waves  suc- 
ceed others  forever,  but  always  the  old  forms, 
always  the  same  tale,  the  victory  of  the  strong 
over  the  weak,  of  the  active  over  the  reflective, 
of  intelligence  over  intellect."^ 

Life  is  always  the  same  old  enigma.  The 
"Why?''  and  the  "To  what  end?''  are  never 
answered.  To  men  in  this  world  of  nature  and 
sin  Jesus  came.  In  him  is  life  that  leads  to 
God.  What  we  cannot  do  he  does  for  us.  He 
pardons ;  he  renews ;  he  teaches  and  leads.  "In 
Christ"  is  all.  We  find  deliverance  from  the 
past,  strength  for  the  present,  hope  for  the 
future.  In  proportion  as  we  are  in  him  we 
live.  To  the  old  elder,  asking  the  Scotch  lassie, 

*Lowe  Dickinson, 


280    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

"How  do  you  know  you  are  a  Christian?"  she 
answered,  "Why,  he  saved  my  soul!"  That 
was  an  explanation  that  no  interrogations  and 
no  fears  could  disturb.  "I  gave  up  all  for 
him,"  said  John  Calvin,  "and  what  have  I 
found?  I  have  found  everything  in  him." 
Having  Christ,  being  in  him,  we  need  no  more. 
The  heart  knows  its  possession,  and  that  is 
enough. 


XXV 

THE  CHALLENGE  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN 
CHURCH 

"And  I  lifted  up  my  eyes,  and  saw,  and,  behold,  a  man 
with  a  measuring  line  in  his  hand." — Zechaeiah  2.  1. 

This  is  a  prophetic  picture  of  a  man  of  the 
world  passing  judgment  on  the  Church.  In- 
terrogated as  to  his  purpose,  he  says,  "It  is  to 
measure  Jerusalem,  to  see  what  is  the  breadth 
thereof  and  the  length  thereof."  He  is  further 
described  as  a  young  man,  evidently  full  of 
new  knowledge,  as  is  the  young  man  of  to-day, 
and,  like  the  young  man  of  to-day,  eager  to 
apply  that  knowledge  to  the  right  and  the  left, 
and,  especially,  to  the  Church  of  God,  which 
demands  so  much  and  occupies  so  large  a 
place. 

The  interpreting  angel,  who  talks  with  the 
prophet,  explains  the  purpose  of  the  vision, 
with  the  sententious  utterance,  "Jerusalem 
shall  be  inhabited  as  villages  without  walls,'' 
or,  as  it  was  given  in  the  Authorized  Version, 
"as  towns  without  walls." 

At  once  we  have  the  picture  of  the  modern 
city,  as  distinct  from  the  ancient  one,  sug- 

281 


282    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

gested  to  us  bj  some  European  cities,  where 
within  the  modern  city  is  stiU  to  be  seen  the 
old  town  shut  in  within  the  circle  of  what  re- 
mains of  the  ancient  walls.  The  walls  were 
once  a  necessity  for  its  preservation;  but  the 
constricting  power  of  the  wall  not  only  pre- 
vented growth,  but  compelled  the  inhabitants 
to  adjust  their  lives  to  ever-narrowing  condi- 
tions. When  the  day  of  the  new  city  came  its 
characteristic  was  that  it  burst  through  the 
walls  like  overflowing  waters,  covering  the 
adjacent  territory  and  rapidly  developing  en- 
tirely new  conditions,  until  we  have  the  mod- 
ern city,  transcending  all  bounds,  leaping  over 
all  restraints,  growing  by  incalculable  forces 
in  ways  that  cannot  be  forecast,  and  at  a  rate 
that  is  not  readily  to  be  estimated,  as  it  eats 
up  the  adjacent  fields  and  draws  to  itself  an 
ever-increasing  proportion  of  the  population 
of  the  state.  There  were  great  cities  in  an- 
cient days,  but  they  were  great  only  as  they 
were  able  to  sustain  and  extend  their  walls. 
The  vision  of  the  prophet  was  of  a  new  day  and 
of  a  new  life.  It  was  a  vision  hard  for  him  to 
understand,  but  open  and  intelligible  to  us. 

The  message  is  for  the  Church  of  to-day. 
The  world  is  full  of  new  thought,  and  the 
young  man  with  the  measuring  line  stands 
as  the  expression  of  it.     He  comes  with  his 


CHALLENGE  TO  THE  CHURCH    283 

new  science.  He  points  to  new  social  condi- 
tions and  marks  the  contrast  which  the 
Church  seems  to  present.  The  air  is  burdened 
with  the  cries  of  all  the  new  movements.  So- 
cialism is  rampant  in  the  political  world. 
Protestantism  is  said  to  be  in  decay.  The 
Christians  are  weak  in  faith,  insincere  in  their 
professions,  and  unworthy  in  their  life.  Ko- 
man  Catholicism  is  held  up  in  contrast  as  hav- 
ing more  efficient  organization,  a  more  aggres- 
sive policy,  and  succeeding  where  Protestant- 
ism is  said  to  fail ;  and  this  in  face  of  the  fact 
that  it  represents  a  discredited  authority,  a 
disproved  creed,  and  a  corrupting  despotism. 
The  young  man  finds  it  not  hard  to  apply  his 
measuring  rod,  and  to  pronounce  authoritative 
judgment  upon  the  Christian  Church.  You 
hear  his  voice  on  all  sides,  and  everywhere  he 
is  impatient  of  question  or  reply. 

To  him  and  to  his  kind  comes  God^s  answer : 
Jerusalem  is  a  city  without  walls.  Your  meas- 
uring line  is  out  of  place.  Here  work  is  going 
forward  under  conditions  which  you  cannot 
understand,  and  obedient  to  forces  for  which 
you  have  no  standards  of  measurement.  You 
might  as  well  attempt  to  measure  electricity 
with  a  yardstick,  or  light  with  a  bushel  basket, 
or  love  with  a  pair  of  scales.  The  Lord  is  do- 
ing his  own  work  in  the  world  with  an  agency 


284     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

that  is  entirely  outside  of  your  comprehension. 
The  Lord  will  be  "a  wall  of  fire  round  about 
her.''  Zion  shall  shake  off  her  bondage.  Her 
enemies  shall  be  a  spoil.  The  Lord  shall  in- 
herit Judah,  and  dwell  in  the  midst  of  her. 
She  is  the  apple  of  his  eye,  at  once  his  care  and 
his  glory. 

So  far  the  prophet.  We  might  stop  with 
this  and  let  it  stand  as  a  picture,  to  find  its 
own  interpretation  in  the  unfolding  of  the 
kingdom  of  God ;  but  it  shall  serve  to  turn  our 
attention  to  certain  foundation  truths. 

The  first  of  these  is  that  religion  is  a  matter 
of  the  soul,  an  attitude  toward  God.  This  con- 
stitutes a  distinction  that  is  real  and  valid. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  his  immediate  life  man 
is  to  be  found  out  of  relation  with  God.  In 
the  light  of  our  understanding  of  ourselves 
and  our  reading  of  human  history  we  are  justi- 
fied in  calling  this  abnormal.  The  world 
recognizes  this  more  or  less  constantly,  and 
continually  offers  explanations  and  seeks  de- 
vices by  which  men  can  be  explained  to  them- 
selves, or  helped  into  conditions  in  which  hu- 
man life  shall  appear  more  reasonable,  and  the 
ever-present  burden  of  its  insufficiency  and  its 
abnormality  be  lifted  from  men's  hearts. 

The  gospel  of  Christ  brings  at  once  the  ex- 
planation and  the  cure.     It  seeks  to  plant  a 


CHALLENGE  TO  THE  CHURCH    285 

new  life  in  the  hearts  of  men,  a  life  so  different 
in  its  characteristics  and  its  goal,  so  sufficient 
in  the  forces  by  which  it  is  maintained,  that 
it  supersedes  the  old  life,  changing  its  abnor- 
mality into  a  just  and  normal  and  permanent 
relation  to  God.  It  brings  the  assurance  of 
pardon  for  the  past,  a  new  strength  for  the 
present,  and  assured  guidance  for  the  future. 
The  man  who  accepts  it  finds  himself  at  once 
in  new  relations  to  God ;  a  new  love  takes  pos- 
session of  his  heart ;  a  new  sense  of  divine  com- 
panionship fills  his  soul;  and  a  new  hope  and 
a  new  courage  at  once  begin  to  reveal  them- 
selves in  the  presence  and  the  tasks  of  his 
daily  life. 

The  challenge  of  the  world  is  to  ignore  or  to 
deny  this  change.  It  points  out  the  great 
progress  that  the  world  is  making  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  the  growing  adjustment  everywhere 
of  life  and  thought  among  civilized  and  culti- 
vated people,  to  what  are  called  the  Christian 
standards.  It  minimizes  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  Church  and  the  world,  and  it  ap- 
proves and  encourages  every  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  Church  to  busy  itself  with  remedying 
the  evils  of  society  and  of  the  state.  It  would 
make  this  the  supreme  test  of  the  real  value 
of  the  Church,  and  as  far  as  possible  limit  its 
function  to  this  service.    Under  the  pressure 


286     BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

felt  on  every  side,  the  Church  is  tempted  to 
yield  to  it,  and  finds  herself  continually  strug- 
gling to  meet  new  conditions  by  new  forms 
of  philanthropic  or  civic  service,  while  she  ex- 
plains away  her  distinctive  doctrines  and  dep- 
recates her  own  history  and  traditions;  until 
the  Church  is  to  be  seen  in  many  a  community 
preaching  a  diluted  gospel  and  apparently 
conscious  of  no  message  either  to  the  satisfied 
sinner  or  the  sorrowing  penitent.  It  was  in 
view  of  this  that  Professor  Francis  Peabody, 
of  Cambridge,  felt  himself  called  in  a  recent 
address  in  Chicago  to  say  that  the  Church  is 
diverted  from  her  original  purpose  of  redeem- 
ing and  sanctifying  the  individual  soul.  She 
is  substituting  clubs,  gymnasiums,  dispensa- 
ries, and  the  like,  and  diminishing  her  devo- 
tion to  worship  that  she  may  apply  her 
energies  to  work.  The  practice  of  the  Presence 
of  God  is  easily  forgotten  in  the  practice  of  the 
service  of  man.  An  industrial  revolution  is 
sought  in  the  place  of  the  spiritual  evolution. 
Christians  are  so  busy  doing  good  that  they 
have  no  time  to  be  good. 

The  warning  comes  to  us  that  the  primary 
business  of  the  Church  is  to  change  men^s 
hearts.  Like  a  railway  train  off  the  track,  or 
a  ship  at  sea  without  chart  or  compass,  a  man 
whose  heart  is  not  right  with  God  can  only 


CHALLENGE  TO  THE  CHURCH    287 

wander  more  or  less  aimlessly,  or  exert  him- 
self with  little  satisfaction  for  his  own  peace 
or  the  welfare  of  others. 

This  is  the  day  of  the  specialist.  Nowhere 
are  men  satisfied  unless  work  is  done  as  well 
as  it  can  be  done  by  one  who  has  devoted  him- 
self to  the  doing  of  that  particular  thing  until 
he  can  do  it  better  than  others.  The  specialist 
has  his  limitations.  But,  for  all  that,  the  world 
is  making  progress,  and  the  world  is  eager  in 
its  activity  because  it  knows  the  value  of  the 
specialist,  and  has  adopted  as  its  motto, 
"Every  man  to  his  task."  The  Church  is  a 
specialist  in  the  work  of  saving  souls.  Her 
primary  business  is  adjusting  men  to  God,  and 
in  that  way  adjusting  them  to  life.  If  she 
gives  up  that  work  for  any  other  she  will  not 
only  fail  in  her  great  business,  but  she  will 
lose  the  respect  of  the  community.  These 
other  things  she  may,  and  indeed  must,  find 
desirable  to  do,  for  we  are  to  live  in  this  world 
and  do  our  part  like  men;  but  the  other  she 
must  not  leave  undone  under  penalty  of  losing 
her  inheritance. 

Furthermore,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the 
change  that  religion  works  is  not  to  be  meas- 
ured in  outward  things.  It  is  not  measured 
by  our  knowledge,  nor  our  success,  nor  our 
wealth,  but  by  an  inner  relation  to  God,  by 


288    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

peace  and  love  and  faith  and  joy  and  hope; 
for  these,  and  not  the  others,  are  the  "fruits  of 
the  Spirit.'^  It  crowds  a  man  back  upon  his 
inner  self.  It  begins  by  requiring  honest  and 
thorough  self-examination.  It  exalts  the  impor- 
tance of  motive,  and  sets  a  man  to  the  difficult 
and  often  unpleasant  task  of  holding  the 
mirror  of  truth  up  to  himself,  and  judging 
the  character  of  his  own  thoughts  and  words 
by  their  relation  to  Jesus  Christ.  John  Stuart 
Mill  said,  "I  have  learned  from  experience 
that  any  false  opinions  may  be  changed  for 
true  ones  without  in  the  least  altering  the 
habits  of  mind  of  which  false  opinions  are  the 
result.''  The  Church  brings  right  opinions  to 
substitute  for  false  ones,  but  she  does  not  make 
the  mistake  of  teaching  that  her  work  is  ac- 
complished when  men  have  simply  changed 
their  opinions.  The  essence  of  faith  is  to  plant 
leaven  in  a  man's  heart,  which  will  work  out 
in  his  life  in  proportion  as  his  heart  is  changed. 
We  are  eager  to  substitute  external  au- 
thority for  internal  examination  and  disci- 
pline, and  are  better  satisfied  with  changes 
which  appear  to  men  and  are  approved  by 
them  than  we  are  by  that  change  in  our  own 
spirits  which  can  only  be  wrought  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  when  a  man  subjects  himself 
with  earnest  purpose  to  his  guidance.    We  are 


CHALLENGE  TO  THE  CHURCH  289 

glad  if  we  can  be  acquitted  of  the  toil  and  bur- 
den of  responsibility  by  shifting  it  upon  some 
external  authority,  particularly  on  an  impos- 
ing Church  or  a  dogmatic  priesthood.  And  in 
the  same  spirit  we  long  for  visible  changes, 
immediate  and  structural,  in  society  and  in 
politics,  which  shall  mark  our  adhesion  to  the 
Church  and  to  Christ.  Responsible  external 
authority  and  visible  material  good  press  to 
the  front,  even  where  Christianity  is  presented 
in  the  humblest  form,  and  at  the  price  of  the 
greatest  personal  sacrifice.  When  the  French 
missionary,  Francois  Coillard,  stood  before 
the  Barotsi  king,  who  for  many  months  had 
kept  him  at  the  frontier  of  his  country  and 
only  at  last  reluctantly  permitted  him  to  come 
into  his  presence  to  deliver  his  message,  after 
the  missionary  had  spoken  to  the  king  and  his 
attendant  chiefs  for  an  hour,  delivering  to 
them  the  message  of  the  gospel,  the  king  im- 
patiently interrupted,  saying:  "You  come  to 
me,  the  ambassador  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  you 
say,  and  you  bring  only  words !  I  thought  at 
least  3^ou  would  give  me  guns!"  And  when 
afterward  the  war  broke  out  between  England 
and  the  Zulus  and  the  missionary  was  charged 
by  the  natives  with  the  failure  of  his  religion 
to  control  the  Christian  nations  from  whom 
he  had  come,  he  turned   sorrowfully  to   his 


290    BEHIND  THE  WORLD  AND  BEYOND 

tent  and  wrote  in  his  journal,  ^'If  we  cannot 
influence  nations,  we  can  go  on  saving  souls." 
It  was  this  recognition  of  the  supreme  purpose 
of  his  calling,  and  the  independence  of  his  work 
in  the  hearts  of  men  from  the  measures  which 
the  world  continually  seeks  to  apply  from  the 
outside  life,  that  gave  him  the  courage  to  live 
through  those  terrible  years,  and,  at  last,  when 
his  work  was  done  and  the  cross  was  planted 
in  the  heart  of  Central  Africa  so  firmly  as 
never  to  be  uprooted,  to  lay  his  own  body  for 
its  last  resting  i)lace  in  the  soil  which  he  had 
thus  won  for  Christ  by  winning  men  one  by 
one  to  his  gospel. 

The  third  abiding  truth  is  that  this  work  of 
the  Church  is  God's  work  rather  than  ours. 
Therefore  she  knows  no  bounds.  Zion  is  a 
"city  without  walls.''  She  delights  in  difficult 
things.  She  knows  no  impossibilities.  The 
poorest  man  responds  to  the  summons  to  rise 
above  himself.  He  becomes  a  God-made  man. 
"Show  him  that,"  as  Carlyle  said,  "and  the 
dullest  drudge  kindles  into  a  hero."  The  ques- 
tion of  the  hour  to  the  Church  is  not.  What  is 
your  demand?  but.  What  is  your  gospel?  not. 
What  is  3^our  range?  but,  What  is  your  power? 
What  is  the  life  that  you  have? 

If  the  Church  is  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God, 
if  she  relies  on  God  for  her  strength  and  her 


CHALLENGE  TO  THE  CHURCH  291 

Hfe,  then  her  power  and  her  possibilities  of 
usefulness  are  not  to  be  measured  at  any  given 
time  by  her  size  in  comparison  with  other  in- 
stitutions, or  by  her  visible  activities. 

We  want  activity.  We  want  boldness  and 
we  want  conquest.  But  true  religion  has  sim- 
plicity, purity,  blamelessness,  love,  faith, 
sweetness.  It  grows  as  the  hearts  of  men  open 
for  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  true  Christian  cares  little  for  rights, 
but  much  for  privilege,  the  privilege  of  service 
to  God  and  men.  If  a  man  seeks  his  own  ad- 
vantage it  is  of  little  use  giving  him  political 
power,  or  changing  his  material  surroundings. 
The  advance  of  men  in  civilization  is  not  to 
be  measured  so  much  by  improvement  in  ma- 
terial CQuditions  as  by  self-imposed  restric- 
tions cheerfull}^  adopted  for  the  sake  of  others. 
A  Church  may  have  breadth  and  length,  as 
the  state  may  have  prosperity  and  dominion, 
and  not  be  Christian.  She  must  have  height ; 
that  is,  have  extension  toward  God.  When  that 
is  true  of  any.  Church,  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
dwells  manifestly  within  her,  she  may  well 
be  fearless  of  criticism  and  of  greed,  or  of  the 
young  man  with  the  measuring  rod.  Her  life 
shall  be  that  of  a  city  without  walls,  and 
Jehovah  will  be  her  glory.  This  is  the  con- 
viction we  are  summoned  to  hold  fast; 


^\imAS^^!?,T.^^  Seminary   Librari 


ries 


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